HeCTA share animated video for new single ‘The Concept’

22 July 2015

HeCTA - The Concept

As we mentioned last month, Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner and fellow members Scott Martin and Ryan Norris have a new electronic project called HeCTA. Inspired by the book Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture 1970–1979 by Tim Lawrence and also by a 78 RPM record Kurt had come across featuring a 45-second monologue about weight loss and performed by the comedian Buddy Hackett, HeCTA wrote their debut album fittingly titled The Diet. The effort is due out on September 18th via City Slang in Europe and via Merge in North America.

Following the first single ‘Till Someone Gets Hurt’, the trio have just shared another cut from the album, ‘The Concept’. It comes with an accompanying video, directed by Chris Shepherd and co-animated by himself and David Shrigley. Speaking about the video,  director Chris Shepherd had this say:

“When I was a kid, my mum wouldn’t let me go out much as it was so crazy where I grew up. I used to watch a lot of old TV. I had one tape of black-and-white Popeye cartoons that I’d watch over and over. I’ve always been really inspired by thirties animation, as there’s no rules and it’s completely surreal. Real-life objects would come to life and start doing crazy stuff.”

Here’s the video for ‘The Concept’.

Watch Perhaps Contraption’s video for ‘Lay Low’

21 July 2015

Perhaps Contraption - Lay Low

London based 9-piece Perhaps Contraption are getting ready to release their third album, Mud Belief. The effort is due later in the year but the eccentric brass marching band are already getting us excited about it. They have recently unveiled a video for the album track ‘Lay Low’, animated by Katy Harrald. Watch it below.


Perhaps Contraption are also offering ‘Lay Low’ as a free or pay-what-you-want download on their bandcamp.

Emily Hall’s new album Folie à Deux out today

20 July 2015

Emily Hall - Folie a Deux

Accomplished British composer Emily Hall is no stranger to the classical music world, having written for several ensembles and orchestras, including the London Sinfonietta, LSO, the Brodsky Quartet, Opera North, and the Hungarian Radio Choir, to name but a few. Hall has also a number of work and collaborations under her belt that go beyond the classical spectrum, namely with Oliver Coates, Mara Carlye, Mira Calix, Olivia Chaney, Lady Maisery, and David Sheppard.
Today she is releasing Folie à Deux, a concept album/opera commissioned by the Mahogany Opera Group. which Hall co-wrote with Icelandic author Sjon. Translating from French as ‘the folly of two’, which refers to a shared psychotic disorder, the album is described as “a sonic voyage into a shared psychosis where a delusion is transmitted from one person to another and is a lyrical and intense investigation into love and loneliness within a relationship”.
Folie à Deux was written for two singers, Swedish vocalist Sofia Jernberg and British tenor Allan Clayton, and it also features a specially created electro-magnetic harp, designed and built by David Sheppard and Jonathan Green. The album was mixed by Valgeir Sigurðsson in Reykjavík and co-produced by Valgeir.
Here’s a taste from the album, the majestic ‘mantra’. Head over to Emily Hall’s bandcamp straight after to buy/stream the whole album.

Folie à Deux is out now via Bedroom Community.

Grandbrothers premiere insightful video for ‘Arctica’

17 July 2015

Grandbrothers - Arctica

Dilation, the divine debut album from German duo Grandbrothers, came out earlier this year. With the grand piano as their core link, Erol Sarp and Lukas Vogel ally their classical training and technical wizardry on the piano to craft each song on the album in a singular way.
“We use a system of self-built hammers that trigger all parts (metal, wood, strings) of the grand piano in order to create all the sounds you hear including percussions”, explained the pair. “On stage that looks like an open heart surgery on the grand piano with a lot of cables attached.” They are offering a glimpse into these mechanical hammers, with their new video for the incredible album track ‘Arctica’. The video was made by Warped Type and you can watch it now.

Dilation is out now via FiLM.

Zahed Sultan drops new single ‘No Me Canto’

16 July 2015

Zahed Sultan - No Me Canto

Hot on the heels of the release of his second album, eyeamsound, Kuwaitian electronic multimedia artist Zahed Sultan is sharing another single off it, the opening track ‘No Me Canto’. Themed around love and loss according to the press release, ‘No Me Canto’ is described as “an ethereal journey of vulnerability evoking emotion while embodying prominent elements of live instrumentation as well as improvised textures”.
Give it a listen now.

CocoRosie share first taste from upcoming sixth album

12 July 2015

CocoRosie

Two years on from the release of Tales Of A Grass Widow, freak folk sister duo CocoRosie have announced the release of their sixth full-length album. Currently on tour in Europe,  before heading to North America in the Autumn, CocoRosie are giving audiences the chance to hear and experience the album in a live format.

Here’s what Bianca “Coco” and Sierra “Rosie” said of the album:

“This will be our sixth record! Like many of our past records, we wrote and gathered much of the material at our farm studio in the south of France with minimal equipment, vintage toys and antique instruments. Going back to a ‘4-track’ style approach, we limited ourselves to essential, acoustic accompaniment, played by us, and select percussion, toys from our old suit cases dating back to the “La Maison” days. Unlike our more psychedelic/electronic explorations of the last two records, our latest songs have a dusty southern feel with old-timey poetry. We ended up in Argentina where we finished the recordings and mixed the record with engineer Nicolas Kalwill with whom we’ve worked on two previous records. The spirit of Buenos Aires added to our already teen-romance-nostalgic-mood where we spontaneously shot a music video casting over 30 local girls.”

Ahead of the album’s release on September 18th, CocoRosie have shared the first superb taste from it, a live version of ‘Heartache City’. The recording was done on their second show in Milan. Listen to it now.