The Casanova Wave
Waterford man Brian McCartan has got some deserved attention on the Irish blogosphere of late for his debut self-titled EP with Irish blog The Point of Everything dubbing his brand of rich one-man band electronica as “chillwave we can call our own”.
http://thecasanovawave.bandcamp.com
DELS
Two videos into his career on Big Dada, DELS (pictured) is probably the UK’s most exciting unknown rapper. He has recorded those two first 8-bit infused singles – Shapeshift and Trumpalump with Joe Goddard of Hot Chip.
http://www.myspace.com/imdels
James Blake
A rising star in electronic music over the last year, the UK’s James Blake has twisted that buzz once again with his recent piano-based Klavierwerke EP and a restrained and desolate cover of Feist’s Limit To Your Love.
Listen at Nialler9
M.I.A’s new song series
Debuted through a series of hard-to-remember URLs, M.I.A has been dropping unreleased tracks on domains like http://bedroomtothehallwaytotheroadtotheworld.com , http://ithinkyoumightgetshitforthat.com, http://facebookgooglemyspaceyoutube.com & http://4thepeopleontheboat.com.
Daft Punk & N.E.R.D.
Hypnotize U is the synth-driven new R&B single from Pharrell and co., most notable for the production from Daft Punk.
Listen at We All Want Someone
Museum of Bellas Artes
Those Swedes are at it again. Adding to the country’s impressive electro-pop roster, this Stockholm three piece release a debut 7” through the Transparent Blog this month and know their way around Balearic dance, bubblegum melodies and piano-led gems.
http://www.myspace.com/museumofbellasartes
New Gorillaz song
Featuring the unknown UK singer Daley, Gorillaz surprise new single Doncamatic has an electro-reggae and pop swing. Bring on the November gig.
Jamie Woon – Night Air
Three years after creating a masterpiece of a remix for Woon (google Wayfaring Stranger remix) Burial produces this gorgeous and atmospheric night-time future-blues ballad. Reminiscent of Massive Attack at their finest.
Listen at FutureSoundsTemporary
Dark Star
Released on the ultra-hip Hyperdub label which is home to Burial, Dark Star mixes leftfield electronica with pop melodies. Like Hot Chip if their music truly was made in the dark.
Listen at Stereogum
Jamie The xx’s solo project
Far Nearer is the debut solo song from Jamie of The xx who has made a nice sideline for himself in remix work. This original track features steel drums and recalls the future-sounds of electronic music’s zeitgeist: Mount Kimbie and Joy Orbison.
Listen at Asian Dan
Action movie mixtape
North American DJ duo Blood Bros’ modus operandi is making mixtapes inspired and featuring action movie theme songs and dialogue. You may as well throw out your record collection as this is all you need.
Listen at Hypetrak
Computer Magic
Having discovered a mere six months ago that she was pretty good at making music, New Yorker Danielle Johnston has produced 13 songs of bright and breezy bedroom-produced electronic pop. All of it is available for free.
Listen at Nialler9
Free Music Week
Dublin-based music blog Quarter Inch curated a week’s worth of blog posts where a light is shone on artists who give away music for free. There are interviews, mixtapes, guest posts and of course, downloads from acts like CoolRunnings, Coma Cinema, Hunter-Gatherer, Popical Island, and Hipster Youth.
http://quarterinchcollective.com/
The Social Network soundtrack
While we all wait to like or dislike the upcoming film The Social Network based on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and directed by David Fincher, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have released a free five track sampler from the soundtrack.
http://www.nullco.com/TSN/
Warpaint
A female foursome from Los Angeles who are about to release their debut album The Fool, Warpaint make what’s been described as ambient rock. That is rock that is a little more soothing than the norm yet still occasionally manages to sound like they are channelling Nirvana. Wu Tang’s RZA is a big fan apparently as are The XX.
http://www.myspace.com/worldwartour
Strands
Known as a producer of many great Irish albums in recent times and a musician in the band Halfset, Stephen Shannon has struck out on his own with a new band called Strands. An album is out in late October and the track you have to hear first is the playful instrumental Temper.
http://tinyurl.com/strandsmusic
The best music on the web this week..
Blackbird Blackbird
Mikey Sanders may be the only member of Blackbird Blackbird but he doesn’t let that stop him from churning out high-quality dream pop jams on an almost daily basis. An album, an EP and a rarities collection is on his Bandcamp profile to delve into but definitely give his cover of Modest Mouse’s Float On a spin.
http://blackbirdblackbird.bandcamp.com
http://bit.ly/floatoncover
Sufjan Stevens album preview
It was only a month ago when Sufjan made his fans instant bedwetters with a new EP. He has quickly followed that up by debuting two songs (I Walked and Too Much) from his forthcoming album The Age Of Adz (pronounced Odds). Both tracks are much more electronic-based than previous material but still strive for the same grandeur.
http://sufjanstevens.bandcamp.com
Holy Other
Brooding ambient electronica to help you through the night from a Berlin-based band who release their debut 7” through music blog Transparent’s label wing this week.
http://www.myspace.com/holyother
Fever Ray mixtape
After Fever Ray’s knockout atmospheric show at Electric Picnic, Karin Dreijer Andersson delivers a bonkers mixtape for Dazed Digital featuring South African Shangaan electro, obscure caterwauling vocalist Meredith Monk, Konono No.1 and more. When M.I.A is the most conventional artist on the tracklisting, you know you’re in for a strange listen.
Listen at Dazed
We Are Trees
Fans of dream pop and Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen could do much much worse than download the debut four-track EP Boyfriend from bedroom popster James Nee. Galloping acoustic gems are the order of the day.
http://wearetrees.bandcamp.com
Starfucker
A massively under-rated Portland secret, Starfucker released a new song called Julius on blogs last week. Driven by twinkling electro-pop synths and reverb-heavy vocals, it deserves to give this great band a much-needed break.
Flight Facilities
You may have heard Australian duo Flight Facilities’ debut single Crave You mashed up with Aeroplane’s Paris recently. The band have released the single on its own with a video and it’s laid-back disco at its best.
Low Sea
Low Sea are a little known Galway-based band made up of Billie and Bobby D who have been seducing people with their hazy, spaced-out electronic-infused shoegaze songs. Their six-track mini album The Light is out this week. They play their Dublin debut this Saturday at the State vs Nialler9 free gig @ The Mercantile which also features Squarehead and very special guests.
New genre alert – Witch House
“Witch House” or “drag” is certainly a genre borne of the web with a Last.FM group dedicated to it, blogs covering it and online magazine profiling it. Bands under the umbrella have a penchant for non-alphabetic characters, slow drones, ghostly tones, electro and most probably, experimental drugs. Bands include Salem, oOoOO, White Ring and eh, ///▲▲▲\\\. Try Googling that.
Read the Pitchfork article on Witch House
Chilly Gonzales – I Am Europe
“I’m socialist lingerie, I’m diplomatic techno, I’m gay pastry and racist cappuccino. I am Europe!” That’s a sample of lyrics from Gonzales’ superb new single and forthcoming album Ivory Tower which should see the Canadian gain a wealth of new fans. The album will be accompanied by a film release – “an existentialist sports comedy about chess and success”. Last year in Paris, Gonzales set the world record for longest solo performance clocking in at 27 hours, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
http://chillygonzales.com
Stream Jape’s discography online
Listen to all three of Jape’s albums: Ritual, The Monkeys In The Zoo Have More Fun Than Me and 2003′s Cosmosphere (also downloadable) on Richie Egan’s new band website. You can also listen to three albums from his other band, The Redneck Manifesto at Bandcamp.
http://theredneckmanifesto.bandcamp.com
http://www.japemusic.com
New Friendly Fires track
For their upcoming Bugged Out! Mix compilation, Friendly Fires hooked up with Canadian band Azari & III for a dance-heavy new collaboration called Stay Here.
Listen at Thorns & Arrows
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
