Last Autumn, Brighton based quintet Calico released their eponymous debut EP. The sublime and exhilarating ‘Euphorism’ served as the EP’s first single and the band have recently unveiled a video for it. The effort was filmed during Calico’s recent European tour and it features them performing a live session. Check it out now.
Calico EP is out now via Small Pond Recordings
Bacteria Cult, the new album from Norwegian composer John Kaada and Mike Patton (Faith No More, Tomahawk, Fantômas, Nevermen) is nearing its release date. Due out on April 1st via Ipecac Recordings, the upcoming album follows their 2007’s Kaada/Patton Live DVD and their 2004 album Romances. An orchestral collection of eight songs composed and performed by Kaada and Mike, Bacteria Cult also features the Stavanger Symfoniorkester.
Following the album’s incredible opener, ‘Red Rainbow’, the pair have unleashed an unsettling video for ‘Imodium’, matching the track’s eerie seductiveness. The effort was shot in Romania by Alexandru Ponoran and you can watch it below. And listen to ‘Red Rainbow’ straight after.
Formed in Hamburg in the 1980s, Die Goldenen Zitronen have built their stature as a punk band, evolving into a seminal art punk collective. With eleven albums under their belt, they have been making music for three decades, and have partnered with many artists including Peaches, Wesley Willis, Chicks On Speed, Françoise Cactus (Stereo Total), Mark Stewart (The Pop Group), and Michaela Melián, to name but a few.
The end of last year saw them release Flogging a Dead Frog, a new album consisting of reworked songs from recent albums. These songs, originally sang in German, are offered in this album as instrumentals or in an English version. On the one hand, “its instrumental tracks emphasize the fact that the band’s sound has always been much more than a musical accompaniment for the unrelenting social commentary of singer Schorsch Kamerun”, explains the press release. On the other hand, it adds that other songs reworked in English “proves a consequent re-adjustment of the band’s political scope, opening discourse on matters that have desastrously proven to not be exclusively pertinent to Germany.”
‘The Investor’, originally ‘Der Investor’, taken from their 2013 album Who’s Bad, is one of the songs reworked in English. The collective have premiered a video to accompany it, directed by Ted Gaier, Katharina Duve and Timo Schierhorn. Watch it below, and if you have another minute or so, go dig the rest of the album, out now through Altin Village & Mine.
Carlos Niño is getting ready to drop Flutes, Echoes, It’s All Happening!, the fourth collaborative album off his Carlos Niño & Friends series. To bring the record to life, the Los Angeles based producer, composer, ensemble orchestrator, percussionist, DJ and mentor assembled a stellar cast of guest contributors, including Madlib, Kamasi Washington, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Iasos, Luis Pérez Ixoneztli, Dexter Story, amongst others.
Flutes, Echoes, It’s All Happening navigates through varied influences, from jazz and New Age to psychedelic and ambient music, and spans a few years. “I rarely throw anything away”, said Niño, “and in this case, a few pieces I’d started and archived were brought back to the forefront as they vibrationally matched with the project. There is overlap in space, time and sound with these records.”
Ahead of its release on April 22nd via Leaving Records, we can already hear the first taste from it, ‘It’s All Happening!’ featuring Madlib, Jamire Williams, Dexter Story, and strings by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. Take a listen now.
We’re getting excitingly close to the release of Bibio‘s new album A Mineral Love, due out on April 1st through Warp. He had already conquered our ears with ‘Petals’, ‘Feeling’ and ‘Town & Country’, all taken from the upcoming album. Bibio is enticing us again with the wonderful ballad ‘The Way You Talk’, also off A Mineral Love. The track marks his first collaboration, with Gotye guesting on vocals. Here’s what Bibio said about it:
“I first heard Gotye’s music when he approached me to remix what quickly became his hit single ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’. I was unfamiliar with him and his music before hearing that track, but I loved the track on first listen and by the second or third listen I was convinced that ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ was going to be a big hit, I was absolutely sure of it. There was just something about that track, the hook, the emotion, the lyrics but also his great voice, it all came together in a way that was something new but also something kind of familiar, a winning combination. Gotye himself has a unique voice but it also feels somehow familiar and I think this was one of the reasons why his track touched so many people.
A few years ago I had been playing around with this chord sequence that I came up with when playing my Wurlitzer electric piano. I became quite addicted to the sequence and slowly developed it over time. As it got more fleshed out and more nuanced, I started to hear potential in it as the foundation of a song. The line “But there’s something about the way you talk” just came out one day while I was playing the piano. I played around with the context of that line and added more lyrics bit by bit, omitting some along the way. The emotional nature of the track and the way I played the piano part seemed to lend itself to an 80s ballad type sound, something I have a bit of a soft spot for.
I did several versions of this track and when it became more developed, I started to imagine a different voice on it. Gotye specifically came to mind because that familiarity I talked about earlier felt like a good match for the track, I just imagined his voice working with the vibe of the track. I contacted him and he was keen to get involved, so I sent him the lyrics, instrumental and my vocal demo and he sent back his vocal parts, not just copying my vocals exactly, he added his own thing, his own nuances, which I loved instantly.”
Listen to ‘The Way You Talk’ below.
We’re ecstatic to know that New Zealand’s Orchestra Of Spheres, who may well be the most inventive and outlandish band on the planet, are back with a new album. Brothers And Sisters Of The Black Lagoon follows their phenomenal 2013’s Vibration Animal Sex Brain Music and it arrives on May 13th via Fire Records.
The band have offered up ‘Trapdoors’ as the first taste of what’s to come and we’re in for a treat. Check it out below.
To celebrate the release of Brothers And Sisters Of The Black Lagoon, Orchestra Of Spheres are returning to the UK/Europe for a series of live shows. If you haven’t been to the frolic and energetic parties that are their live sets, you are missing out. Check out the full set of dates below:
More…
