Zita Swoon Group add visuals to ‘A Sera, A Waara’

18 October 2012

Formed in the early 90’s under the name Moondog Jr., Zita Swoon became one of Belgium’s most emblematic bands. Lead member Stef Kamil Carlens, who also co-founded dEUS with Tom Barman, travelled to Burkina Farso in 2010 where he met vocalist Awa Démé and balafon (xylophone) player Mamadou Diabaté Kibié. Zita Swoon Group and the album Wait For Me is the fruit of this encounter.

According to the press release, most of the album’s tracks “are based around dialogues: the content of Awa Démé’s lyrics (sung in Dioula, a Manding language) is echoed and transposed in Stef Kamil’s English-language lines, which reflect the griots’ preoccupations with traditional wisdom, interpersonal relationships, social codes and cultural traditions, but also with very current issues: social and political problems, the depletion of the country’s natural resources, endemic poverty which drives many people to emigrate in search of a better life etc.”.

Wait For Me is out now via Crammed Discs and Zita Swoon Group have just started a string of European shows in support of the album. To celebrate the tour, the band has premiered a video for the album’s opener ‘A Sera, A Waara’. Watch it below.

Matmos premiere video for ‘Very Large Green Triangles’

17 October 2012

Matmos have just released The Ganzfeld EP this week, as previously mentioned. The EP precedes their ninth studio album, The Marriage of the Minds, slated for a February 2013 release, via Thrill Jockey.

We had already been treated to the wondrous ‘Very Large Green Triangles’ off The Ganzfeld EP, and to coincide with the EP release, Matmos have premiered a video to accompany the track. Immerse yourself into this green triangle world, directed by Ed Apodaca and Audrey Karleskind and produced by l.inc design.
Matmos recommend you watch at full screen and so do I.

PVT unveil first single from forthcoming album

17 October 2012

As previously reported, electronic rockers PVT are set to release their fourth studio album entitled Homosapien early next year via their own Felte.
Homosapien is “a powerful body of work built upon the concept of the human condition” according to the album’s blurb.

The Aussie trio has just unveiled ‘Nightfall’, the first powerful single taken from Homosapien. ‘Nightfall’ will be released digitally on October 23rd in North America and the day before in the rest of the world. Listen to it below.

Ulrich Schnauss announces new album and shares title track

15 October 2012

German electronic artist Ulrich Schnauss is returning with his first solo album in six years. A Long Way To Fall will be released via Domino in North America and via Schnauss´s own Scripted Realities in the rest of the world early next year.

Here´s what Schnauss said about the forthcoming album:

“Throughout the last decade, I recorded three albums that were trying to translate the early 90’s shoegaze aesthetic into an electronic context. After finishing the last album, Goodbye, I felt a need for a change of direction. At the same time, my music taste was changing drastically. While I had spent a couple of years mainly listening to songwriting based music (a lot of ‘indie’/band-type stuff), I was now rediscovering my love for electronic music based on more open structures. This provided the main inspiration of trying to record an album that would celebrate the synthesizer as the very capable musical instrument that it is, but without the need to disguise it behind a wall of echo and reverb. What satisfies me the most about this album is that I think I’ve managed to create a record that has a coherent, cohesive narrative.”

The first  taste from the album is the title track ‘A Long Way To Fall’. Listen to it below.

Crushing Blows share first taste off forthcoming eponymous EP

13 October 2012

Derbyshire natives Andrew Foster and Chris Jones make up noise pop duo Crushing Blows. November 12th will see the release of a new self-titled EP via their own Super Heavy Weight Records. Pre-orders are available now here and they come with a treat. The band is also offering the vinyl of their previously released double A-side single ‘Hiding Place’ / ‘You Will Always Be Lonely’.

‘The People You Will Never Meet’ is the first taste off the upcoming EP and Crushing Blows have premiered a video for it directed by Stuart Samuels. Watch it below.