Day and Night Digital | Irish Independent

Band of Blogs: Sufjan Stevens, Sun Airway, Zappateer1, Dubstep mixtape

The best music on the web this week..

New Sufjan Stevens EP
The emotional music of Sufjan returns via a new digital-only eight track EP called All Delighted People. It’s on sale for $5 and is 60 minutes long.
http://sufjanstevens.bandcamp.com

Sun Airway
The Balearic / chillwave / tropical pop sounds keeps on giving. This Philadelphia duo have made some of the loveliest blissed-out electronic pop available in 2010. Look out for their album Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier in October.
Listen at Nialler9

Zappateer1
Donegal man Zappateer1 (probably not his real name) makes really excellent mashups inspired by The Avalanches and Girl Talk.
http://www.youtube.com/user/zappateer1

25 Tracks: A Dubstep Chronology Mixtape
Drowned In Sound put together a mix which spans 13 years and serves as an audio journey through dubstep’s morphing from UK garage to its Croydon birthplace to its current place in the musical lexicon.
Listen at Drowned in Sound

Band of Blogs: Kanye feat. Beyonce, Factory Floor, Rosanna & Young Montana

Kanye feat. Beyonce
After debuting his “moving painting” for debut single Power (and the new remix just this morning), Kanye uploaded another new poppier R&B tune called See Me Now on his blog. Extra points for the line “I’mma let you finish but I got Beyonce on the track.”

Rosanna
Rosanna (pictured) has all the requirements for a pop star – 1) She’s Swedish. 2) She sounds like a cross between Lykke Li and Robyn. 3) She’s signed to Popjustice’s new label. 4) Her debut single Waterfall sounds like a hit.

Waterfall

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Band of Blogs: Fight Like Apes, Chequerboard, Robyn and Snoop Dogg, Shangaan Electro

New Fight Like Apes
First came Hoo Ha Henry and now we have Poached Egg, the second taster from Fight Like Apes’ geniusly-titled second album The Body of Christ and the Legs of Tina Turner. The song is up to the band’s usual synth-driven standard with the repeating shouty mantra of “When thumbs get split / chicks get lit”. An acquired taste maybe, but this is a band with a fervent fanbase.
Listen at Nialler9

Chequerboard
John Lambert aka Dublin’s Chequerboard has released his 2002 debut Gothica as a free download on Bandcamp.com. Grab this gorgeous slab of icy electronic soundscapes.
Download at Bandcamp

Robyn and Snoop Dogg
Swedish Electric Picnic-bound pop star Robyn is already on her second album this year and she ropes in gangsta rapper Snoop on U Should Know Better from Body Talk Part II, a Cars-esque Europop number.
Listen at Gigwise

Shangaan Electro
A genre of music out of South Africa with 180 beats per minute, sped-up vocal samples, marimbas, African rhythms, digital beats and a big emphasis on street dancing. I visited Soweto recently to meet up with the godfather of Shangaan electro, read about my experience.

Listen & watch at Nialler9

Band of Blogs: Beat Connection, Adebisi Shank, Clare Maguire, The Knocks

Beat Connection
Coming to our ears via their free download debut EP, Surf Noir is eight tracks of jangly electro dreamy dance music out of Seattle. It’s summer distilled.
http://beatconnection.bandcamp.com

New Adebisi Shank track
The first sample from Wicklow’s Adebisi Shank second album This Is The Second Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank, International Dreambeat is pure rainbow rock made of polychromatic guitars and sunbeam rhythms. The album is out on August 20th.
Listen at Nialler9

Clare Maguire
Described as a “big-voiced Birmingham belter” by Dublin blogger The Bubble Boy, Claire Maguire certainly has soulful chops. Check out her new single Strangest Thing, as recommended by Neon Gold. One to watch.
Listen at The Bubble Boy

The Knocks
This NYC producer duo started off with remixes of The Temper Trap, Ellie Goulding, Katie Perry and Passion Pit. Now making original tracks, their sound is pop aimed at the dancefloor with a strong emphasis on electro fun.
http://theknocks.muxtape.com

Band of Blogs: Daft Punk Tron Soundtrack, Guards, The Walkmen & Baths

Daft Punk’s Tron Soundtrack
Finally, long-awaited tracks from Daft Punk’s contribution to the Tron:Legacy soundtrack have been let loose on the internet. The tracks are streaming on the official site.
Listen at the Tron website

The Walkmen are “Stranded”
A band with a fervent but small following to date, this may all change if Stranded, the gorgeous first brass-assisted single from the band’s forthcoming sixth album Lisbon has anything to do with it.
Listen at Everybody Taste

Guards
Not much is known about Guards save for their brand of 70s-inspired psychedelic rock music is available for free download and features fellow blog-buzzers Cults and Chairlift on guest vocals. Oh, and it’s really, really good.
Free download from Bandcamp

Baths
Will Wiesenfeld is a producer from Los Angeles steeped in the Brainfeeder electronic scene that spawned Flying Lotus and Daedelus. His album Cureleanhas been amassing blog love recently.

http://www.myspace.com/bathsmusic

Band of Blogs: Wiley releases 11 albums for free and more

11 Free Wiley albums

After going on a Twitter tirade (twirade?) against his manager, UK grime MC Wiley uploaded over 200 songs onto the net for fans to freely download.

http://bit.ly/wileyzips

New Cut Copy

The Australian three-piece played Tripod in Dublin on Tuesday, after releasing a new taster Where I’m Going from their as yet untitled new album.
http://www.cutcopy.net (more…)

Band of Blogs: Bingo, Hipster Youth, Maximum Balloon & Magnetic Man

Bingo
There’s not a whole lot of Irish producers making dubstep-tinged garage and UK funk but 21 year-old Frank Sweeney is one Dubliner impressing with his recent tracks, recalling the likes of Burial, Mount Kimbie; producers at the forefront of future music in the UK.

Hipster Youth
Another young man, this time 19 year-old Aidan Wall, who also records under the moniker Porn On Vinyl, has released his debut album Teenage Elders for free download. It’s filled with bedroom-made lo-fi electronica and chiptune tracks.
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Band of Blogs: Dirty Projectors & Bjork, Mike Scott, Major Lazer, Gaz Le Rock

Bjork and Dirty Projectors EP
Mount Wittenberg Orca is a collaborative 7-track EP between the Icelandic artist and the Brooklyn band which came about after they played a benefit show together in New York. All proceeds go towards the National Geographic Society’s Oceans Project.
http://www.mountwittenbergorca.com

Mike Scott orchestral mixtape
The Waterboys’ Mike Scott produced a Orchestral Pop Fantasia mix featuring tracks from Scott Walker, The Rolling Stones, Ennio Morricone and Liz Fraser.
Listen at State

Major Lazer summer mix
After the La Roux collaborative mixtape, Diplo dropped this mix of Major Lazer exclusives, Robyn, Rusko, Estelle, Jay-Z and more for a Chernobyl-based radio station.
Listen at MAd Decent
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Band of Blogs: Danger Mouse’s summer playlist, Modest Mouse rarity, Chromeo, Skeleton Jones

Danger Mouse’s summer playlist
The producer known for The Grey Album, Dark Night Of the Soul and Gnarls Barkley picked 170 songs for your summer gatherings available on Youtube, Spotify and iTunes.
Listen at Nialler9

Skeleton Jones
A former member of Irish band 8Ball, Ken McAllister has been making jangly indie-pop under this new moniker and it’s promising stuff indeed.
Listen at Nialler9

Chromeo – Don’t Turn The Lights On
The ’80s synth revivalists will release their third album Business Casual in September. Don’t Turn The Lights On is a perfect example of the loved-up retro electro funk they do so well. So hot right now.
Listen at Stereogum

Rare Modest Mouse download
A 1993 cassette release – Tube Fruit, All Smiles and Chocolate was recently made available for free download after it was found on eBay.
Download via State

Band of Blogs: Tennis, Tinie Tempah, Cocknbullkid, Soulwax remix LCD Soundsystem

Tennis
One of the most-blogged new artists from last week, this Denver husband and wife clearly impressed with their whimsical indie-pop charms. Debut 7” is sure to sell out fast.
http://www.myspace.com/tennisinc

Tinie Tempah and Snoop Dogg
USA meets England and this time it’s not a draw. Snoop adds an extra flavour to Tinie Tempah’s smash hit Pass Out.
http://bit.ly/snooptempah

Cockandbullkid
After a quiet period, promising pop star Anita Blay (pictured) returns with a song called er, Cockandbullkid. Despite the lack of imagination in song-naming, the string-assisted tune itself is superb pop.
http://bit.ly/cocknbull

Soulwax remix LCD Soundsystem
The Belgian brothers (who play Dublin during August Bank Holiday weekend) do their thing with LCD album track You Wanted A Hit.
http://bit.ly/lcdwax