5 years ago, Norwegian metal stars Ulver invited Sunn O))) to improvise together in a night brightened by the lights of the Aurora Borealis. They recorded three “live in improvisation” pieces and listened to them in the morning. Terrestrials is the fruit of this collaboration blending unusually acoustic metal and drone charming sounds. The album will come out in February 2014 on Southern Lord. Listen below to an excerpt of ‘Eternal Return’, the first taste from the album.
St. Vincent teases forthcoming album with first single ‘Birth In Reverse’
Rocking songstress St. Vincent aka Annie Clark has announced the release of her self-titled fourth album. It follows her 2011’s widely acclaimed solo album Strange Mercy and last year’s collaborative album with David Byrne, Love This Giant.
Recorded in her hometown of Dallas, St. Vincent’s forthcoming effort saw her once again recruiting producer John Congleton.
“I knew the groove needed to be paramount,” said Clark of the album, adding she “wanted to make a party record you could play at a funeral”.
St. Vincent arrives on February 24th via Loma Vista and Universal offshoot Caroline International. Ahead of it, St. Vincent is offering the first electrifying taste of what she’ll be throwing our way. ‘Birth In Reverse’, which you can stream below, is available for free on her website, in exchange for an email. The single will be released on a limited edition gold triangle 7″, also featuring ‘Digital Witness.’
Superhuman Happiness unleash video for ‘Second Heart’
You probably already know that New York based septet Superhuman Happiness won us over a long time ago. Their debut album, Hands, released last March, is one of our Picks of the Year and we’ve been playing it again and again.
Superhuman Happiness have just put out the perfect visual accompaniment to ‘Second Heart’, one of the album’s outstanding and infectious tracks. As director Tatiana McCabe explained, the video for ‘Second Heart’ is based “around a psychedelic exploration of how love, perspective, and choices can color our lives”.
Hands is out now via The Royal Potato Family and Tummy Touch.
Hauschka offers first glimpse at forthcoming album Abandoned City
Ingenious German composer, songwriter and experimental musician Hauschka has announced the release of a new solo full-length album entitled Abandoned City. Hauschka named each of the album tracks after the actual name of deserted cities, such as Pripyat near Chernobyl or Thames Town in China. According to the press release, “Hauschka chose Abandoned City as the title of the album to convey the sense of hope and sadness that consumes him when he’s sitting alone at the keyboard.” Hauschka explains:
“I was interested in finding a metaphor for the inner tension I feel when I’m composing music, a state of mind where I’m lonely and happy at the same time. When I saw photos of abandoned cities, I felt it was perfect. People once lived there, but they left in a rush and now nature has taken over in a beautiful way, things are growing up from the sidewalk and the seasons are changing colors. The music is dark, but in a quiet, uplifting way. The piano is singing the melody but, because of the effects, you can’t hear it directly. It’s like the sound of a choir under the earth, something you feel without realizing it.”
With the exception of one track, ‘Elizabeth Bay’, which was purposely written for a reinvention of Wagner’s Flying Dutchman, Hauschka composed and recorded the entire album in his own home studio over a 10-day period.
‘Elizabeth Bay’ is also the first single to emerge from Abandoned City, its title referring to a deserted mining town in Namibia. The track serves as a wonderful taste of Hauschka’s new album and his skilful and magical blend of neoclassical composition and dance music rhythms.
Hauschka has also confirmed a number of European shows from January onwards, including a London show on March 26th at Cafe Oto. You can check out all the tour dates here.
Now enjoy the monumental and moving ‘Elizabeth Bay’, and watch our for the release of Abandoned City on March 17th via City Slang.
New live video for Nils Frahm’s ‘For – Peter – Toilet Brushes – More’
A volcano of energy and creativity bursts out of Nils Frahm every time he touches a piano key. His amazing live album, Spaces, came out a couple of weeks ago via Erased Tapes Records. Frahm has just released a video for ‘For – Peter – Toilet Brushes – More’ off Spaces, filmed last summer at London’s St John-at-Hackney Church. The video is the cherry on top of this delicious musical cake.
The Vickers drop video for new single ‘I Don’t Know What It Is’
Last summer, Florence based four-piece The Vickers allured us with the single ‘She’s Lost’. They are doing it again with their brand new trippy video for the second single ‘I Don’t Know What It Is’. Both singles will be featured in their full-length album, Ghosts, due out in March 2014. We’ll keep our ears peeled for more on this.
In other related news, The Vickers have just kicked off a European tour. Check all their stops and info here.
Now watch the video for ‘I Don’t Know What It Is’, made by David Blame and Fred Paranoia.
