St. Louis-based ambient artist Jake Leech is set to releases his latest record Brightest Night To Memory on Already Dead Tapes today.  Incorporating gentle swirls of guitar notes and a sense of unexpected progression, the latest song from that release, the empty street and dark alleyway evoking “Crosstown,” sounds as though it could be heard pouring out from some dark corner of some dead-end road. There are things hidden in that hiss and the soft cacophony of notes and gentle electronics.  And they are just waiting for you to let your guard down.  This isn’t some distortion heavy trudge through the city at night but rather a subtle examination of what can happen in those places and the resulting emotional fallout which inevitably follows.

Beats Per Minute is pleased to premiere the latest track from Jake Leech’s newest release Brightest Night To  Memory.

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But where Contra succeeded in breaking down the layers of Vampire Weekend’s debut to their base pairs and developing even more brightly shaded melodies on top of ridiculously crisp pop production, Modern Vampires of the City feels thicker—more densely packed—and benefits from the occasional musical detour that the band indulges in from time to time. But make no mistake; this is pop music through and through. And Vampire Weekend have a preternatural ability to make their songs breathe through a timeless pop simplicity. The sounds may be all too recognizable from the past few years (or decades for that matter) but the band fits them together in unexpected and curiously affecting ways. Whether it’s Koenig’s way of getting underneath a melody—right to the heart of the notes—or the band’s syncopated rhythm section and effortless integration of the endless influences which have marked all their releases, Modern Vampires of the City finds the band in both familiar and unfamiliar territory, and it’s pure pleasure hearing them navigate these waters.

For me, there has always been two major ways of approaching any album from Vampire Weekend. You can appreciate the pop hooks and meticulous construction, disregarding any sort of socio-economic proselytizing, or you can pull apart every lyric until this “message” is scrawled in crayon on the sidewalk, made perfectly clear for all who care to stop and read it. And while the advocation of one approach over another should rightly be left to each listener, it’s not terribly difficult to understand how incredibly subjective this all is and how deftly the band manages to side-step any obvious inconsistencies between the pop-centric instrumentation and the darker themes of mortality, faith, and society’s questionable demands upon the individual. But this isn’t The Knife and so we have a ridiculous amount of sugary ear candy on which to hang these sometimes unexpectedly heady lyrical insights.

And the band wastes no time in exploring this juxtaposition of saccharine melodies and darker thematic material, as album opener “Obvious Bicycle” twists Koenig’s piercing lyrics (“no one’s gonna spare the time for you,” “it’s been twenty years and no one’s told the truth”) together with gorgeously lilting harmonies and a subdued sense of rhythmic interchange within the band to form a meticulous composite of modern pop music–and it also finds room to sample reggae icon Ras Michael. “Unbelievers” digs into matters of faith and devotion strung up against some of the jauntiest organ and piano runs I’ve heard since Garth Hudson poured out his heart in The Band, and even Koenig’s declaration that “girl, you and I will die unbelievers bound to the tracks of the train,” does little to quell the joyous sense of ecstaticism into which the band so happily dives. “Step” cribs bits and pieces of its melody from Oakland rap group Souls of Mischief’s “Step To My Girl,” who themselves took it from Grover Washington, Jr’s cover of “Aubrey” originally written by 70’s lite-AM rockers Bread. You got that?—ok, good. Oh, and the harpsichord and organ atmospherics make this song seem destined to soundtrack some adorably humorous scene from the next Wes Anderson movie. Come on, you knew it was inevitable.

“Diane Young” plays around with the idea of…well, dying young—with Koenig’s voice pitched and twisted on the joyously melodic “baby, baby, baby” bridge to great effect. “Hannah Hunt,” one of the clear stand outs here, is in some ways a statement from the band of where they’ve been and where they plan on going next. Beginning with some slight hiss and background noise, the song eventually opens up with Batmanglij’s delicate piano and Baio’s subtle bass plucks intertwining with Koenig’s soft vocals recalling the detailed travels of a couple as they reach out from one coast to the other. It strives for and attains an understated balance between the less-than-idyllic lyrics (“If I can’t trust you then damn it Hannah/ There’s no future/ There’s no answer”) and its grounding in breezy pop nomenclature.

Other tracks like “Finger Back” and “Hudson” hover above bleaker territory than we’ve come to expect from the band, while still maintaining a high level of pop polish. These tracks are wrapped up in images of burned-out cities and descriptions of historic acts of violence. Dark stuff for a band whose debut and sophomore albums felt more akin to the sunshine pop of the ’60s and the jangle pop of the mid-80′s than they did to the jagged rock of the early ’90s or even the more introspective indie pop of recent bands like Allo Darlin’ and Jens Lekman. Koenig’s hyperactive vocals twist around the shuffling gait of “Worship You,” and the band manages to make something memorable and remarkably original in what would have merely been a throwaway track from any other band. Even when what sounds like a distorted brass section joins the morass, the band never loses their footing and keeps pulling one idea after another from its apparently limitless bag of musical tricks.

Modern Vampires of the City is definitely a more mature album for the band, but really, what does that even mean for a band whose literate Afro-pop inspired zaniness has played such an integral role in each of their past records? They’ve certainly lost none of those qualities, and yet the album still feels as though it was written and recorded by artists who’ve grown by leaps and bounds in the interim between their last record and this one (which they have). For Vampire Weekend, this means that you block out all the backlash that occurred after the release of your last album and focus on expanding your already considerable pop expertise and refining the quality of your songwriting to an almost Van Dyke Parks level of shine. Koenig’s lyrics are as bracingly astute as ever and Rostam Batmanglij never fails to impress with his varied and creative arrangements; but to forget Chris Baio’s serpentine basslines and Chris Tomson’s insistent, though unobtrusive, percussion would do them a disservice, as they are just as necessary as either Koenig or Batmanglij. Vampire Weekend have gone from puckish indie rockers to a fully formed indie rock institution, full of the battered feelings and world weariness that often accompanies such a meteoric rise—though they still hang onto an almost naïve sense of pop wonder. Three albums in and Vampire Weekend are still climbing.

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“A Dancing Shell” would be the best example, where Tatum’s deadpan delivery of lyrics like “I’m not a human, I’m just a body / Just a dancing shell here to make you happy” play out as if sung by some Weird Science prototype robot over surprisingly funky guitar chords. While it may feel a little forced and contrived at times, it’s simply too damn catchy to be dispelled.

Other moments of experimentation (or at least as experimental as Tatum ever may get) aren’t as successful; particularly the two drawn out ambient tracks “On Guyot” and album closer “Hachiko,” with the latter cut being a possible ode to Bowie’s Low era. Such numbers may have worked on a lengthier piece of material serving as interludes, but with their appearance being on a seven-song EP, it comes off as lazy and deliberate throw-aways.

Yet it’s on a song like “Ocean Repeating (Big Eyed Girl)” – a song that easily could have found a proper home on his last LP Nocturne – where Tatum noticeably feels the most comfortable, which ends up being a gratifying experience on both ends. Sometimes pushing the envelope may be a grandiose gesture, other times more subtle, and while Wild Nothing may never be a Brian Eno, there’s certainly nothing wrong with being a Felt or Go-Betweens.

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My fellow Queens native Action Bronson never ceases to entertain me. In this Jason Goldwatch directed video for new single “Strictly 4 My Jeeps” Bronsolino hits the Queens streets with Riff Raff and showcases his cartwheel skills, his hustle, and some BIG women. And of course Bronson’s culinary skills remain on point.

“Strictly 4 My Jeeps” was produced by Harry Fraud. Purchase the single on iTunes and bump it in your jeep. Don’t forget your vape.

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Friends since they were children, Jessica Davies and Katherine Blamire of Smoke Fairies have grown up sharing similar musical tastes and influences. Bonding over their parents’ guitars and Jessica’s mother’s vinyl collection, the two women seemed bound together through this shared musical history. You can hear the sound of two artists working in tandem as Davies and Blamire work out their own frustrations, as well as a new found sense of confidence, amid detailed descriptions of cross-country road trips and the suffocating nature of becoming stationary, both physically and spiritually. Their sophomore LP Blood Speaks deals with how we should embrace the experiences of day-to-day life and listen to our blood—our inner sense—as it “speaks” to us about how we can change and evolve as individuals. There is also a prevalent sense of motion and momentum that pervades the album, as both women have traveled extensively and this informs their music and lyrics to a large degree.

Taking time from their busy schedules, Jessica and Katherine recently sat down to write about a few of their favorites records for Beats Per Minute. In the latest installment of our On Deck series, the duo talk about Mark Lanegan, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis’ soundtrack work, and the genius of The Beach Boys, as well as discussing a few other artists (Dr. John, Avi Buffalo, Fever Ray) from their personal collections. Drawing inspiration from these artists and copious amounts of other musical influences, you get a sense of the wide range of sounds that are being incorporated into the music of Smoke Fairies. And with veteran producer Head manning the boards, their latest release Blood Speaks is their most accomplished and striking set of sets to date. Having already found previous distribution in the UK, the album has recently been released here in the US on Year Seven Records.

Mark Lanegan Band – Bubblegum

Jessica: I got this album when it first came out in 2004. It’s one of those albums that hasn’t got boring even though I must have heard it a zillion times. My tastes over the those years have changed but this still seems fresh every time I hear it. There’s such a wide range of songs on Bubblegum, from ‘Hit the City’ which used to be one of my going out favorites, to songs for quiet contemplation, like ‘Strange Religion’. Last year, to our amazement, Mark Lanegan started covering one of our songs on his tour. It was great because we felt that his music has had a strong influence on us.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis – The Proposition Soundtrack

Katherine: I’ve always been interested in film soundtracks. There wasn’t a lot of music around in my house when I was young, so maybe it was one of the first ways I discovered the way music can elude to landscape and emotion. I used to love the old classic Weston movie soundtracks too, like the incredible compositions of Ennio Morricone who did the Good the Bad and the Ugly. The Nick cave and Warren Ellis soundtrack collaborations are really unique. They use really imaginative, raw sounds to signal danger, unrest and build tension. It leaves me unsettled and disturbed and the sense of depth and space seems endless. The Assassination of Jesse James Soundtrack was similar and just as dark and exciting. I like the way film instrumentals are supposed to tell you what to feel, and when they’re good you are enslaved to the music without even knowing.

Fever Ray – Fever Ray

Jessica: I first heard this on tour, in the van driving through Germany at about 3am. I was half asleep and it was all very eerie, it seemed to fit that moment. It’s a strange record. Sometimes I listen to it and I am brought into a cold, murky, ethereal world, other times, when I focus on the lyrics I find it to be quite fitting with every day life; domestic, homely and warm. some of my favorite lines are ‘I’m very good with plants, When my friends are away, They let me keep the soil moist’ from ‘When I Grow up’ and ‘Accompany me, By the kitchen sink, We talk about love, We talk about dishwater tablets’ from ‘Seven’.

The Beach Boys – 20 Golden Greats

Katherine: In one episode of the classic British comedy series Alan Partridge someone asks him which his favourite Beatles album is and he says “I would have to say The Best of the Beatles”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyZspqjtG2k I feel a bit like him now with this choice – The Beach Boys 20 Golden Greats. I’ve just always loved it ever since I was a kid. It’s an incredible collection of brilliantly arranged classic pop songs. The harmonies just completely blow me away and you can’t feel sad when it’s on. I love to return to listen to the Beach Boys over and over again, trying to work out what makes the harmonies so great. This process often inspires the way we approach building layers of vocals in our own songs. It would be even better if it had “Feel Flows” on it from Surf’s Up, but you can’t have it all.

Dr John – Locked Down

Jessica: This is a recent release but already it feels like it is going to become a classic favorite in my collection. It’s the perfect mix of so many American genres. My favorite track has to be “Ice Age;” its got an odd time signature and a repetitive riff. This album is perfect for jumping around the kitchen to.

Avi Buffalo – Avi Buffalo

Katherine: We were at a festival called de-Affaire in Holland where we slept on canal barges. Avi Buffalo were playing on the same stage as us and so we heard their set. The guitar playing seemed so summery and free. I went home and immediately bought the album. The music is really catchy and somehow manages to be complicated and childlike at the same time. Some of the guitar solos are like a soundtrack to a feather blowing off in the wind.

Smoke Fairies’ sophomore record Blood Speaks is out now on Seven Year Records. 

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The new album by the Smith Westerns, Soft Will, is on its way to being released (June 25th via Mom + Pop in the U.S.; June 24th via Co-Op in Europe). We’ve already heard the closing track “Varsity” along with seeing the video for it, and now you can treat yourself to the likeable opening track, “3am Spiritual” which sounds much like the title implies it might before it changes into a brief staccato piano-led smooth jam. Listen below.

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In many ways, Trouble Will Find Me is the National formula distilled. If you liked their breakthrough, 2010’s High Violet, it’s tough to imagine you won’t enjoy this as well, even if there are pronounced differences. Berninger’s lyrics are more distant, sighing in broad strokes and reveling in less detail. There are no more arms around stereos or walking with spiders, just exhausted, intimate dialogues with people who are often mentioned by name. Others feel like summaries of earlier National tunes, albeit with a little more Bowie and a little less of the Cure. How willing you are to overlook this rather intense focus on continuity will depend on how much you’ve bought in to the National brand. Taken one song at a time however, it’s really hard to fault them for it when every aspect of the music is crafted with such competence.

And yet there is a contradiction at the heart of Trouble. The experimentation with rhythm is pronounced yet natural, but the songs built around them may also be the National’s most linear. Many of them function as a singular concept, on to which further flourishes are tacked. The propulsive, elegant “Graceless” takes defenestration to another level, cleaving anxiously to an incessant, unflinching drum tempo, and the gorgeous “I Need My Girl” plays like a coyer version of “England,” stacking horns, synths and strings around a jeweled guitar. On “I Should Live In Salt,” Berninger’s coaxing reiterations of “You should know me better than that” are conveyed with the gentleness of pillow talk, then he beats himself up over it at the chorus: “I should live in salt for leaving you behind.” The repetition is the anchor in a song that’s stripped to the essentials and seems destined to become a live favourite.

But Berninger isn’t just heartbroken, he’s running an emotional decathalon. On “Humiliation” he’s close to his breaking point, weary beyond comprehension. “I survived the dinner,” he begins, before delving into less than flattering statements of self: “As the free fall advances/ I’m the moron who dances.” Elsewhere, things aren’t quite so bleak. He’s sporadically resolute (“Slipped,” “Don’t Swallow the Cap”) and rattled (“Pink Rabbits”), but the underlying message is that things aren’t quite right. Even if this isn’t his best prose, you feel for and with him. His ear for harmony and his command of his voice, on the other hand, are as sharp as ever. This is most evident on “Sea of Love,” which could square off against anything in the band’s catalogue. This is the National firing on all cylinders. The tumult of Scott Devendorf’s bass meshes in perfectly with his brother’s metronomic pounding, as Berninger’s searing melodies carry the arrangement from one inspired section to the next. The piano-based highlight “Pink Rabbits” sounds like their take on Elliott Smith, and it drips with poignancy: “I was a television version of a person with a broken heart.”

It’s not all solid gold though. Berninger tries out his upper register more than on every other National record combined. While it works for the most part, he sounds as if he’s straining to hit the notes on “Heavenfaced,” which may be the point, but it grates a little when compared to his usual Cognac smoothness. Sharon Van Etten and St. Vincent help round out the vocals, and offer support on a good handful of songs where Berninger may have wandered outside of his comfort zone. On the other side of the coin, there’s “This Is The Last Time,” where he’s is ably held aloft by pacing and harmony alone: “I won’t be vacant anymore,” he promises. It’s a vow that the National could hardly be accused of breaking, even if Trouble Will Find Me is perhaps less colorful than their past three albums. Here, the National are yet again standing atop the mountain they conquered nearly a decade ago. Unpredictable it is not, but taken as a study of sound and mood, it’s kind of perfect.

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Stream “Doin’ It Right” along with the entire album on iTunes

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Wow ‘Ye, you’re crazy for this one! In advance of his appearance on Saturday Night Live, Kanye West has premiered a new song entitled “New Slaves” accompanied by visual projections on 66 buidlings across the world. The time and locations of the projections — which are of Kanye’s face rapping along to the new song — are posted on KanyeWest.com.

Consequence of Sound has found a video of the full track which you can check out below. Rap Genius already has most of the lyrics up as well but not even those junkies could decipher the extremely unimpressive falsetto section at the end. I’ve said enough, check out the track for yourself below.

We’ll keep you guys posted as a studio version of the track and new details emerge. Kanye West’s follow-up to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (which we gave our only perfect 100% score upon release) is expected out later this year and is rumored to feature a plethora of artists including Daft Punk, TNGHT, Chief Keef, Azealia Banks, and Hudson Mohawke. Get ready, Yeezy season has begun.

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No one really knows where this track came from but rumors are this a new cut off of Wu’s “reunion” album A Better Tomorrow due out later this year. Either way, Inspectah Deck, Raekwon, RZA, and U-God all step up and deliver great verses on this Frank Dukes produced joint. Give it a listen and let us know which verse is your favorite in the comments below.

[Via Potholes in my Blog]

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Even though The Zola’s sophomore album, Ancient Mars, is so many months old that its release date is closer to last Christmas than it is to this present time, it still has the ability let its most infectious earworms play out in your head. “Knot In My Heart” is one such number, and arguably the best track from the album, and we here at Beats Per Minute are happy to premiere a brand new remix of the track by Nacey. Upon first listen you might rightfully wonder where The Zolas are in the picture as gloopy arpeggios dawdle about some tribal chants, but before long a familiar guitar strum lights up the room like a flash of lightening before making room for lead singer Zachary Gray.

But even with familiar elements on show, Nacey still manages to make “Knot In My Heart” sound like something else. When the woozy synths starts playing out over the aforementioned arpeggios, it sounds like something that you’d come across in a DJ’s setlist at an underground club rather than something caught up in a nervous, tense walking-down-an-alley-at-midnight feel. This reviewer isn’t able to honestly say he likes the remix better than the original, but it sure as hell wants me spin Ancient Mars again. Have a listen to the Nacey remix of “Knot In My Heart” below.

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She has no interest in selling sex. Delving into Innocence one can’t help but feel like they’re taking part in a, perhaps slightly perverse, experiment. If you’re to keep up with Hval, it’s time to don the goggles and head to the lab. Despite what the title and somewhat frantic album art might suggest, sex is not on show here. Rather, it’s her, and our, subject, to be poked and prodded.

Returning to that opening salvo, Hval sounds almost mischievous, but eternally clinical, statically removed from her own desires – a frustration she expresses moments later by literally shouting the word. Immediately following her pornographic line, she defensively, if slyly, justifies with, “Nobody can see me looking anyway.” She seems almost baffled by her own feelings, and it’s not hard to imagine this album being birthed from that same confusion, whether genuine or constructed. Certain aspects of the album represent Hval’s own perspective, but it’s most easily digested as the perspective of a character, a tool Hval is using to embody an impossible detachment.

None of this is to suggest the trek is so removed as to be dully uniform. To the contrary, the album is as scattered as our subject’s own splintered perspective on the matter, making the frenetic nature of album’s pulsating progression all too fitting. On “I Called,” Hval confronts her own unfulfilled desires, obsessing over her and an unnamed lover having “almost touched,” and that she, “wanted to say everything,” and attacking her own reservations. For herein lies one of the album’s great truths – that the very cautious, observatory nature of it is one if its creator’s short comings, and by extension, all of ours as well. She seems to shout it, at times: perhaps we’d all be better off going against our “better” sense at times, bleeding through in “I Called”’s key moment: “I didn’t give in.” It couldn’t be clearer that she should have.

From here the record shuffles into the telling interlude of “Oslo Oedipus.” One can picture Hval walking through still, muted streets by night, observing others in their own spheres of sexual isolation, taking the time to observe, “…people walk through the city, quietly, like friendly zombies…a slow burning flame of safety burns at the heart, but we cannot find it.” It nearly seems she’s addressing caution itself, yet, she cannot ‘find it’ any better than the rest of us, despite her chilly awareness.

Next up, on “Renee Falconetti of New Orleans,” Hval finally confronts sex itself, dryly observing, “It is an act of love, he enters you, through your body.” There is no joy in these words, however. All that’s to be found is an almost cruel sense of sarcasm when she muses, “For a hundred days, you are a virgin, or a young boy, you are not sure – I’m never sure. Innocence is just too kinky isn’t it?” Colder still comes, “Your hair is too short, and your face is too big, too close to be…anybody.” She’s considering the baseless fears we all feel, but has no pity for them, no time or patience for imprudence of desire.

As if to underscore the point, the next interlude “Give Me That Sound” is genuinely primal, right down to a nearly Tarzan-like opening cry, before Hval spews out a bizarre monologue concerning her mouth, giving it no more regard than others’ sensuality, treating it as some peculiar device whose sexual capabilities go against her own desired, if unattainable, quantifiable outlook. Even this contemplation feels too real for her methodical character, who, following the complicated dialogue, feels the need to suddenly snarl, “I don’t need anybody!” Following is “I Got No Strings” which, while allowing more emotion, insists on much the same idea with its Pinocchio-esque narrative.

The rest of the voyage progresses in much the same vain, with our heroine continuing to seek out the removal of emotion her scientific study demands, refusing to grasp she’ll never command an unbiased hypothesis. She imagines that, “Jean of Arc follows [her] around Australia,” a seemingly random, but fitting companion, considering her heralded resolute purity, and wishes herself as sexless on “Amphibious, Androgynous,” on which perhaps we get the closest to Hval speaking out herself, with the clarity of truth shining through in, “I tried to write love songs, but my words remain in my hands.”

They certainly did. Hence, this sprawling, at times impenetrable, but most outstandingly, engaging ramble was born. As things come to a close, the trudging forward movement of “Death of the Author” begins to bring the listener out of the tyrannical, nearly suffocating, world of the protagonist, finally giving into surging drums at its conclusion, followed by the quiet afterthought of “The Seer.” One almost feels as Odysseus, finally emerging to sail from the trials to return to be among men, only to be apart from them, in his own, forever more. In fact, to call Innocence is Kinky a sort of coldhearted sexual odyssey, or some equally twisted companion to Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut (Bill Harford could really have used a listen), hardly feels a stretch. Higher praise than that, this writer isn’t sure he can give.

The post Album Review: Jenny Hval – Innocence is Kinky appeared first on Beats Per Minute.

The Weeknd is back with the title track to his forthcoming LP Kiss Land. The nearly-8-minute track is as sexual as it is menacing — seems like Abel is up to his old ways. Listen below.

Kiss Land, the proper follow-up to The Weekend’s Trilogy (consisting of the House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence mixtapes) is due out later this year.

Earlier this week The Weeknd released a short snippet of another new song, “John Carpenter.” Abel was also featured on a new track on French Montana’s debut LP titled “Gifted.” You can stream both tracks below.

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Tempe, AZ punk outfit Destruction Unit has decided their 2013 agenda is “full-throttle”. Hot off their searingly intense record Void in February, the band’s not interested in making that the last you hear from them, revealing “Sonic Pearl” off an upcoming 7″ to be released July 16 via Suicide Squeeze. This track sees Destruction Unit trying out some new things, most notably slicker production with a much greater emphasis on Ryan Rousseau’s vocals. This is all leading up to their first release on Sacred Bones, expected August 20. They are also heading out to tour their mind-blowing live show along with Milk Music and Merchandise, so (absolutely) consider seeing them if they are playing near you.

Tour:
05-18 Tempe, AZ – Yucca Tap Room
05-30 Austin, TX – Chaos in Tejas *
05-31 Austin,TX – Chaos in Tejas *
06-01 Austin, TX – Chaos in Tejas *
06-02 Austin, TX – Chaos in Tejas *
06-04 Dallas, TX – Club Dada *
06-05 Nashville, TN @ Stone Fox *
06-06 Louisville, KY – The Workhouse Ballroom *
06-07 Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups *
06-08 Pittsburgh, PA – The 6119 *
06-09 Cambridge, MA – TT the Bears *
06-10 Winooski, VT – The Monkey House *
06-11 Montreal, Quebec – Il Motore *
06-12 Toronto, ON – Izakaya Sushi House
06-13 Toronto, ON – The Garrison
06-14 Taylor, PA – Underwood Skatepark
06-15 Brooklyn, NY – 285 Kent *
06-16 Brooklyn, NY – Shea Stadium ^
06-17 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s *
06-18 Washington, DC – DC9 *
06-19 Richmond, VA – Strange Matter *
06-20 Charlotte, NC – The Milestone *
06-21 Atlanta, GA – 529 Club *
06-22 Gainesville, FL – The Atlantic *
06-23 Miami, FL – Churchill’s *
06-24 Tallahassee, FL – Office Lounge Gallery %
06-25 Memphis, TN – Hi Tone %
06-26 New Orleans, LA – Siberia %
06-27 Houston, TX – Mangos %
06-28 Mcallen, TX – Thirsty Monkey %
06-29 Austin, TX – Beerland %
07-01 El Paso, TX – Lowbrow Palace %
07-05 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo

* with Merchandise, Milk Music
% with Milk Music
^ with Nu Sensae

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Laura Marling quietly anticipated new album, Once I Was An Eagle, is coming up on us, hitting shelves on May 27th. Here’s a new track from the album called “Once” which features Marling with her acoustic guitar, plucking and strumming away as producer Ethan Jones fits in some coyly noodling organ sounds. Have a listen below.

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Clubfeet’s latest album, Heirs & Graces, has been making the rounds in their native Australia for a few months now, and just this week we here at Beats Per Minute ran our review of the record. While it’s no perfect album, there are good moments to be lived through and new single “Cape Town” is one such number. Complete with disco aspirations and a deadpan bridge, it’s a rather joyous affair that could well have you trying out the rest of Heirs & Graces. Listen below.

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Craig Hartley and Eli Friedmann, the genre-hopping duo Small Multiples, initially met when both were attending New School University in New York City.  Time passed and the two went their separate ways but came back together when Hartley reached out to Friedmann to see if he’d be willing to play some new songs that he’d written.  And so Small Multiples was born.  The term “small multiple” was popularized by Yale professor emeritus and visual artist Edward Tufte and came to describe a method that allowed for “quick visual comparison exhibiting variety and scopes of alternatives.”  The duo use this concept as a way of melodically integrating numerous influences and sounds without undermining the integrity of each individual piece.

The debut release from the duo comes in the form of a 5 track self-titled EP. The songs that stretch across the Small Multiples EP range from churning Bat For Lashes-style indie rock to mid-90’s alt-rock throwbacks, with melodies that twist and turn and double back on themselves at the slightest touch. Given both artists genre-spanning musical backgrounds, the conglomeration and integration of numerous influences on this EP makes for a fascinating and rewarding experience. Sounding like the product of decades of musical history, the band never settles into one groove for very long before finding another angle of approach. By constantly working towards and watching out for the best way to extend and refine their musical tendencies, Hartley and Friedmann have allowed Small Multiples the leeway to do whatever they want, however they want to do it.

Beats Per Minute is pleased to premiere the album stream of Small Multiples’ self-titled debut EP.

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When Franz Ferdinand first arrived in the mid-2000s, they released a pair of albums just over a year apart. Then they slowed things down, taking almost four years to release their third album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, and now they’ve taken another four years before today announcing their fourth full length Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action.

The album will come out through Domino on August 27th. Followers of theirs on Instagram will have seen them hard at work in the studio, using many synths, which promises to be exciting on the album.

Big fans of the band will be able to buy a limted “passport edition” of the album which features the album on double vinyl, on CD, two non-album tracks on a 7″ single and a booklet entitled Right Notes, Right Words, Wrong Order.

Watch the trailer for Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action below, which features some typically Franz Ferdinand-sounding new music. The track list is beneath.

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action track list:

01 Right Action
02 Evil Eye
03 Love Illumination
04 Stand on the Horizon
05 Fresh Strawberries
06 Bullet
07 Treason! Animals.
08 The Universe Expanded
09 Brief Encounters
10 Goodbye Lovers & Friends

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With the release of their second album Cold Spring Fault Less Youth only a couple of weeks away, and having already put out two great tracks in the form of “Made To Stray” and “Blood and Form,” London duo Mount Kimbie seem to making a final push for our excitement by releasing another fantastic track called “You Took Your Time,” which features fellow Londoner King Krule. Krule melds nicely into their electronic landscape, managing to be threatening but not overly so, and carrying the song nicely while Mount Kimbie subtly emphasise bits and pieces in the background. Take a listen to “You Took Your Time” below.

Cold Spring Fault Less Youth comes out on Warp on May 28th.

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After the fairly quick one-two punch of Fuck Buttons’ first two albums, 2008′s Street Horrrsing and 2009′s Tarot Sport, the duo went quiet for a while, releasing a few things here and there under different names. Although they never announced a split, we never knew when they would return.

Now we do: July 23rd will see the release of their third album Slow Focus on ATP Recordings. The wait will surely have been worth it if this new album, the first they’ve self-produced, is as original and mind melting as their first two.

Speaking about the sound of the album and how it refers to the title, Benjamin Power says “Slow Focus seemed like a very apt title when considering the sentiment of the music. It almost feels like the moment your eyes take to readjust when waking, and realising you’re in a very unusual and not a particularly welcoming place. We like to think that we create our own new landscapes, and with this it’s a very alien one.”

On the decision not to use an external producer this time around, his partner Jason Hung says “We’ve used producers as safety nets in the past, but we’ve always had a very specific idea of what our music should sound like and so it became about following the logical path.”

Their golden rule of always being in the same room when composing their music was adhered to once again, and is said to give the album a “more close-up [feeling] than ever before, a first-person view through winding pathways set against a frequently aggressive and constantly evolving terrain.”

The duo have some festival dates announced, where viewers will get a first taste of Slow Focus. You can see those dates at the bottom of this post, beneath the album’s track listing.

Slow Focus track list:

1.Brainfreeze
2.Year Of The Dog
3.The Red Wing
4.Sentients
5.Prince’s Prize
6.Stalker
7.Hidden XS

Tour dates:

5/23 – Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona, ES
5/31 – Optimus Primavera Sound Festival, Porto, PT
6/21 – Best Kept Secret Festival, Hilvarenbeek, NL
6/22 – Body & Soul Festival, Ballinlough Castle, Co Westmeath, IRL
6/28 – Glastonbury Festival, Worthy Farm, Pilton UK
8/15-8/18 – Greenman Festival, Black Mountains, Wales
8/31 – ArcTangent Festival, Fernhill Farm, Compton Martin, Bristol, UK
10/26 – Release The Bats, Melbourne, AU

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Disclosure took to BBC’s Maida Vale Studios where they performed this new infectious cut off of their forthcoming album Settle entitled “F For You.” They also performed “You & Me” with Eliza Doolittle and also covered Ralphi Rosario’s “You Used to Love Me” with singer Natalie Duncan.

Stream all three performances below.

Settle is due out on June 3rd via PMR Records.

Settle
01. Intro
02. When a Fire Starts to Burn
03. Latch (ft. Sam Smith)
04. F for You
05. White Noise (ft. AlunaGeorge)
06. Defeated No More (ft. Ed Mac)
07. Voices (ft. Sasha Keable)
08. Second Chance
09. You & Me (ft. Eliza Doolittle)
10. January (ft. Jamie Woon)
11. Confess to Me (ft. Jessie Ware)
12. Help Me Lose My Mind (ft. London Grammar)

[Via FACT]

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Arrica Rose & the …’s (pronounced “the dots”) create a refreshingly original and unexpectedly contemporary take on California folk-pop.  Incorporating blissed-out harmonies, strings, keyboards, and numerous pop accents, the band and each of their consecutive releases further refines and explores these particular sounds.  Having just released their latest collection of songs, the 6 track Lucky EP, the band has been out on the road in support of the record. Recently Arrica Rose took some time to discuss some of her favorite records with Beats Per Minute, and from her choices, the development of her own musical aesthetic through her influences is fairly clear.  And though she’s not tied down by any specific genre or trend, her music can be seen as the adaptations of someone who wanders through sounds without regard for boundaries or presupposed limitations. The rustic country soul roots in her sound can be seem as the logical extension of her adoration of Dusty Springfield and her seminal record Dusty In Memphis, while the more introspective side of her music can be heard in the bedroom confessions of Elliott Smith.  Her choices of the pure pop bliss of Big Star and densely layered instrumentation on Television’s Marquee Moon all give interesting insight into her formative musical years.  Check out out her full list below in the latest installment of our On Deck series.

Elliott Smith – Either/Or

I got my first Elliott Smith record when I was in high school. What I remember most was the first time I put it on a friend pointed out how strange it was to hear someone with a “pretty whispery voice cuss in a song.” I hadn’t even noticed. I was wrapped up in the melodies. Either/Or is a particular favorite for me in terms of songs, the stripped down intimacy of it, and the recording quality as well. I also appreciate that the slow songs break your heart and and the uptempo ones have this catchy classic pop feel coupled with those incredibly dark lyrics that you might not notice on first listen.

Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis

Dusty Springfield could be heard often in my house while I was growing up. My folks were big on the classics. At first I was drawn to the uniqueness of her voice, its strength and sensitivity, the prettiness of it coupled with that world-weary quality. I also grew to love the diversity of the albums soulful instrumentation and those often grand orchestral arrangements.

Big Star – #1 Record

Some of my favorite pop songs of all time are on this record. I also love the harmonies, the instrumentation and that part Beatles, part Rolling Stones, part Byrds quality of it. Every song has a memorable melody and I get lost in choosing a favorite track. I’ll often put this album on repeat and have it be the soundtrack to my day. It’s almost like an audio security blanket for me.

Television – Marquee Moon

I was introduced to Television when someone asked me if I was influenced by them when I was first starting out playing in a band. I was big into punk at the time but had not yet stumbled upon Television. It was one those records that became an instant favorite of mine. I adored the songs and the production. I was hooked on the stark intertwining guitar lines of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd as well as Verlaine’s distinct pained and passionate vocals.

Calexico – The Black Light

I tend to be drawn to music that mixes genres. I really enjoy it as an evolution in sound. Calexico is at the top of my list of bands that have mastered that art. I love their unique combination of traditional Latin sounds, country, 50′s-60′s jazz and then there’s that Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western influence which I’m a huge fan of as well. I also appreciate that Joey Burns and John Convertino make music to dance to and music to be sad to equally as well. One of my best friends loaned me The Black Light while we were traveling together and I was soon to own my own copy as well as the rest of Calexico’s extensive discography.

Arrica Rose & the …s’ latest release Lucky is now available via pOprOck Records.

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Johnny Jewel’s label Italians Do It Better have been promising us a new After Dark compilation for a long time now. They’ve let out new tracks from it by Chromatics and Glass Candy without ever giving us a concrete date for its release. Finally Jewel has said that it will be released this Friday. The compilation clocks in at 78 minutes – a pretty standard length for something Jewel-affiliated.

As a bonus he’s also released a track from it from another of his monikers, Mirage. This one’s called “Let’s Kiss” and can be heard below. The lyrics are on the Soundcloud, as well as a note about the release from Jewel.

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NYC disco duo Holy Ghost! are taking their sweet time about releasing their second album, but they’re periodically releasing singles along the way. And quality singles too, like “It Gets Dark.” Their new 8-minute jam is called “Dumb Disco Ideas” and is Holy Ghost! through and through. The guys have revealed that the new album is called Dynamics and will be coming out this fall, but we don’t have the full details yet. For now enjoy “Dumb Disco Ideas” below.

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Mikal Cronin’s sophomore album MCII is absolutely stuffed with hard rocking poppy summer jams, and is sure to be one of our albums of the summer (look for our review soon). One of the biggest songs on the album is “Change,” and deservedly it now has a video. In the clip Cronin and his band tear up a high school party while an invisible man walks around, seemingly unnoticed. Watch the video below.

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The Dodos’ 2011 album No Color was one of their strongest to date and left us with the feeling that despite the fact that they’re a mere duo, they could produce all sorts of different styles with their abilities. We’ll find out what they’ve produced in the last couple of years when they return with their fifth album Carrier on August 27th. The album will be their first for Polyvinyl.

The Dodos usually have some level of overhaul in their sound between albums, and it’s unsurprising that singer Meric Long has said that they wanted to start from scratch when it came to writing and recording for Carrier. This time around Long decided to write the words before the music – and when it came time to add guitars he went straight and solely for the electric.

This change of writing can be heard in the first cut made available from the album, “Confidence.” Starting slow and relatively spare, the music seemingly follows Long’s command as part way through the song he sings “don’t slow down” and the song bursts into energetic life, the electricity of the guitar sparkling throughout.

Listen to “Confidence” below and check out the track list for Carrier. Tour dates will be announced shortly.

Carrier track list:

01. Transformer
02. Substance
03. Confidence
04. Stranger
05. Relief
06. Holidays
07. Family
08. The Current
09. Destroyer
10. Death
11. The Ocean

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The first single to be released from Camera Obscura’s upcoming album Desire Lines was “Do It Again”; a typically peppy and sunny track from the Scottish quintet. The second is almost the exact opposite of that. “Fifth In Line To The Throne” displays the band’s softer, more introverted and heartbreaking side. Singer Tracyanne Campbell explains that the song is “a song about someone in a seemingly perfect relationship but there is a dark underside to it. We wanted to sound menacing and give folks the creeps.”

Listen to “Fifth In Line To The Throne” below and look out for Desire Lines coming out through 4AD on June 4th.

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Brooklyn singer/songwriter Aly Tadros released her sophomore album, the bucolic and emotionally affecting The Fits, back in January.  And though we’re well past that release date and Tadros has already been on the road for some time in support of the record, she and her band have found the time to record a performance video for the song “Bad Thing” off The Fits.  Recorded live in New York City, this video is a simple, though powerful, testimonial to Tadros and the band as they move casually and effortlessly through the complex rhythms and subtle musical interplay that the song requires.  Between Tadros’ forceful vocals, wonderfully understated violin atmospherics, and a shuffling beat that seems to be equal parts jazz and classic country-influenced, the song is the perfect amalgamation of her pan-global influences and a great example of the multi-faceted musical aesthetic which she has so carefully cultivated since she began recording.

Beats Per Minute is pleased to premiere the latest video from Aly Tadros for “Bad Thing” off her recent album The Fits.

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“The Hearse” is the perfect lead off song, as it gives the album momentum instantly, but I was surprised when the second song, “Orchards,” did not pick up where it left off, instead bringing down the energy completely. Hearing the rest of their debut album, Curiosity, I was disappointed to find that there are no songs that instantly grab the attention the way “The Hearse” does; most of the songs here are mid-tempo and take a less punchy approach. However, multiple spins of the album start to reveal the layers and subtlety to many of the songs that are elusive at first; the songs are ostensibly lo-fi, but beneath the low grade drum and vocal quality is plenty of richness. Bringing in fellow Portlander and Unknown Mortal Orchestra member Jacob Portrait surely helped them achieve this.

As evidenced by the band’s name and album cover, the duo aren’t trying to be particularly cool or modern, they’re happy to goof it up a bit with vampy keyboard and organs, but once you start to meet their wavelength there’s plenty of romance on this record; both in terms of the lyrics and in terms of emulating seductive classic rock sounds. The simplistic bass and drums hold all these songs together, while the varied use of synths and organs loom large in the background, allowing the keyboards and sweet vocals work some magic, which provides us a with a set of nine different but of-a-piece tracks.

The Napoleon Dynamite quality of the front cover is consistent in the music; it’s not hard to picture either of the guys on the cover awkwardly slow dancing to “Magic Light” at a high school dance, or singing “Trains” in an attempt to woo the object of their heart’s desire. And when they want to rock, they can do that just as easily too, as shown by the squalling “Giants” or the bouncy “I Can’t See Why.” Curiosity is just over half an hour in length, with none of the songs outstaying their welcome. It may not be the most instantly appealing of albums, but with a little time it proves itself to be more than its title suggests.

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