Superhuman Happiness tease debut album with first single

29 November 2012

Superhuman Happiness have announced the release of their debut full-length album, Hands, slated for a March 5th release via The Royal Potato Family.
The New York based 7-piece first started in 2008 “to seek joy and love through shared rhythm and melody, composed and improvised” as they describe in their social media page. “Their mission is to pursue a happiness greater than that experienced by an individual mind” and their infectious songs are the proof of their success.
Stuart Bogie, Luke O’Malley, Ryan Ferreira, Jared Samuel, Eric Biondo, Nikhil Yerawadekar and Miles Arntzen, who make up Superhuman Happiness, have collaborated with several other bands including Antibalas, Phenomenal Handclap Band, TV On The Radio, Iron & Wine and Martha Wainwright among many others.

“The foundation for the songs on Hands were created by playing a series of hand-clapping games at the beginning of each rehearsal.” explains the press release. “It was the spark that initiated a truly collaborative process.”

Speaking about the forthcoming album, bandleader Bogie said it “was cultivated through a shared method of composition in order to make something greater than any one individual. Who are our influences? More than anything, this band has seven main influences: each member.”

To entice us further, Superhuman Happiness have dropped the first single off Hands, ‘See Me On My Way’. Listen to it now.

This Tuesday December 4th, Superhuman Happiness will release the original soundtrack to the critically acclaimed documentary How To Survive A Plague, written and co-produced by Bogie and O’Malley and featuring performances by Kronos Quartet and compositions by Arthur Russell.

Balmorhea premiere video for ‘Days’

29 November 2012

Balmorhea‘s outstanding fifth full-length album, Stranger, came out last October via Western Vinyl. The Texan sextet are now offering an accompanying video for the glorious album opener ‘Days’.
Photographer Jack Coleman filmed it in Indonesia and Japan. “I wanted to express the feeling of space and time, that feeling of traveling abroad and hunting for waves. How the world is always moving and the people in it are as well.”
Balmorhea are crossing the Atlantic for an extensive European tour, starting on March 19th in Dresden, Germany. You can check all the other dates here.
Now here’s the video for the epic ‘Days’.

Mystical Weapons unveil video for debut single ‘Mechanical Mammoth’

28 November 2012

Last month we heard ‘Mechanical Mammoth’, the mind blowing first taste offered by the new improvisational outfit of Sean Lennon and Deerhoof’s drummer Greg Saunier, Mystical Weapons. The pair will release their self-titled debut album on January 15th via Chimera Music.

Mystical Weapons have just unleashed a video to accompany ‘Mechanical Mammoth’, directed by Martha Colburn. Watch it below.

Buke and Gase offer title track from upcoming new album

28 November 2012

Brooklyn based inventive outfit Buke and Gase, the duo of Arone Dyer and Aron Sanchez, have shared the title track from their upcoming somophore album. General Dome will see the light of day on January 29th via Brassland.

Buke and Gase, formerly Buke and Gass, named themselves after their own handmade instruments, the “buke”, a self-modified baritone ukulele and the “gase”, a guitar-bass hybrid created by Aron. Other than their core eponymous instruments, Arone and Aron use an array of homemade gear including ankle-played bells, toe-bourine and a bass drum with an integral snare drum and tambourine.

Whilst we eagerly wait for the album to drop, here’s the fierce and exhilarating title track ‘General Dome’.

The Mynabirds unleash video for ‘Body of Work’

27 November 2012

As previously reported, Nebraska based outfit The Mynabirds, released their ‘Body of Work’ EP last week via Saddle Creek. The uplifting and charming single, taken from the album Generals, comes backed with the B-side ‘In the Mouth of Wolves’.

To celebrate the release, The Mynabirds have unveiled a beautiful visual accompaniment to the song.
“[Director] Allie [Avital Tsypin] and I wanted to create this enchanted world that was basically a collection of moving surrealist paintings inhabited by these pure, joyous people,” explained Burhenn. “And the cinematographers, set designers and cast made it happen in a serious way.” Watch the video below.

Shugo Tokumaru shares lead single from new album

27 November 2012

2013 is getting closer and there are a lot of exciting releases to look forward to. Japanese pop wizard Shugo Tokumaro is presenting In Focus?, the follow up to his 2010’s Port Entropy. The new album has been released in his native Japan earlier this month via P-Vine Records, and it drops worldwide on January 22nd via Polyvinyl Records.

According to the press release, whilst creating In Focus? in the first half of 2012, the multi-instrumentalist “locked himself inside his home studio, often forgetting to eat and sleep for long stretches of time”.Tokumaro crafted each song in the album using “an average of 20 instruments and hundreds of recorded parts”.

Lead single ‘Decorate’ is the first joyful taste Shugo Tokumaro is offering, and it comes with video. Here it is.