New Colin Stetson video - To See More Light

Montreal-based avant-garde saxophonist Colin Stetson is truly a game-changer. His otherworldly vision, execution, and grand exclamation is confounding, deep, and insatiably provocative. Its an easy assertion for someone to listen to "To See More Light" and proudly bask in something completely original and intoxicating.

The new video, which comes from Stetson's upcoming album New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light, is a hauntingly rich black-and-white footage of the Atlantic. Which, not coincidentally, Stetson often brings up during his live performances.

According to SPIN, Stetson often tells the short story of a whale in the Atlantic, saying, "There's this whale that lives in the Atlantic," he says. "Its song is off by a few hertz, which renders it unintelligible by all other whales, but it sings this song, continually for over a decade now, and no one will answer."

To get a better idea of Stetson's vision, head over to NPR to get a listen to the album before its April 30 release date. Otherwise, watch the video below.

New Crystal Castles video - Affection

Shot during the band's recent tour in South America, Crystal Castles debuted the newest video for III standout track "Affection." The footage is largely distorted shots of a curiously lacking energy Alice Glass, donned in blonde. Fans of the group won't notice much a change, however, considering most of Crystal Castles' videos end up looking pretty similar by the end (high-energy color contrasts, erratic close-ups, etc.)

Check out the video below and grab III today via Casablanca/Fiction/Universal Republic.

The National perform "Sea Of Love" and "I Need My Girl" on Fallon

The National, performing two new tracks from the upcoming Trouble Will Find last night on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, debuted "Sea Of Love" and "I Need My Girl" as a bonus online exclusive. The first, the sweeping and National-esque rapture of "Sea Of Love," fit well as the TV showcase. The latter, however, worked endearingly well as slow-time showcase, demonstrating the band's unreal penchant for heart-wrenching burners.

Check out both performances below and grab Trouble Will Find May 21 on 4AD.

New Phaseone - "Bianca" and "Arsenal Magnolia"

Two more tracks from the upcoming If I Tell U LP from St. Louis-via-Brooklyn producer Phaseone have been released, only a few weeks before Williams Street Records puts out the new LP. "Bianca," a hazy hip-hop fused harmonic jam, and "Arsenal Magnolia," a slow-developing dreary stream, are both available to stream below.

If I Tell U is set for release May 7. Pre-orders are available here.

Four Tet - Pyramid (Atoms For Peace remix)

Not a few hours after revealing on Twitter that Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich's Atoms For Peace have worked a remix of "Pyramid," Four Tet debuted the new piece on Soundcloud. Checking in at nearly eight minutes, the new version is split with chaotic vocal loops, sped up to hyper-imaginative speeds, but not overwriting the original's supreme minimalism. Check it out below.

Jon Hopkins video - Open Eye Signal

Director Aoife McArdle, in his most recent project, undertook the joyous and lengthy single from long-time English producer Jon Hopkins in "Open Eye Signal." The eight-minute plus piece could simply be looked at as a display of skating tricks, but it opens up as a captivating cross-country trip of a mute figure, intrinsically focused as the song continues to develop.

It's a must watch.

New Joy Orbison - Donell

Since breaking through with "Hyph Mngo" back in 2009, English producer Peter O'Grady - better known as Joy Orbison - hasn't seemed to match his outstanding debut. Despite taking what seems like a permanent residency in Manchester's Meandyou club last year, the producer has some new material. "Donell," free to download, is a reworking of forgotten '90s R&B singer Donell Jones' '97 hit "U Know What's Up," stripping the original Left Eye verse for more house-oriented construction.

Check out the new track below.

New Sigur Rós - Ísjaki

After the departure of band member Kjartan Sveinsson, who joined the band on keyboards in 1998 as the only band member with any sort of formal musical training, Sigur Rós are set to release the newest, far more uptempo LP Kveikur.

The release isn't until June 18 on XL, but the band has released the second official single from the follow up to last year's excellent Valtari, with "Ísjaki." This comes after the late March release of "Brennisteinn" and a few live performances of new material. However, those who pre-order Kveikur on iTunes will receive an instant download of the new track.

Otherwise, watch the lyric video for "Ísjaki" below.

WTCHS - Thoughts On Air 7"

Another Record Store Day release that may have fallen under the rocks comes from Canadian noise rock cave minds WTCHS. The Ontario band released a double-sided 7", Thoughts On Air, which is also free to download via the WTCHS Bandcamp page.

It's a claustrophobic, achingly harmonic two-track set that feels comfortable as a soundtrack on the edge of the world. Stream it below as well.

New Bonobo video - First Fires (ft. Grey Reverend)

Following up the swirling-psyche melter "Cirrus," the first single from Bonobo's The North Borders, the British producer debuted the newer, slightly more normal video for "First Fires." The new video dabbles more on the cinematic side of things, using Grey Reverend's vocals to play a bigger story.

Check the video out below and grab The North Borders today.

Album Stream: Deerhunter - Monomania

If the moment where Bradford Cox stepped onto the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon stage dressed in half-drag, drawing out the bloody fingered enigmatic drawl of Deerhunter's "Monomania" didn't real you in (there was a large portion of people that were off-put by the whole thing), then you must be lost.

For those that were, the band is streaming its fifth studio LP Monomania now courtesy of NPR. Listen to what aims to be another stellar release from the band below before its May 7 release.

New Baths - Ironworks

Baths has found a comfortable middle-ground between eccentric dream-haze pop and minimalist electronica. The formula, used to obscene precision on the 2010 album Cerulean, is apparent again on the most recent release, "Ironworks." However, Baths, Will Wiesenfeld, uses vocal execution as a higher priority, while still sprawling tapered effects throughout.

Check out "Ironworks" below from Baths' upcoming album Obsidian, set for release May 28 via Anticon.

Review: Iceage @ First Unitarian Church (Philadelphia, Apr. 19)

Photo by Oda Edjar Starheim

The ruminations of one of Philadelphia's most well put together punk shows had a risk. Heading the formative billing of White Lung, Night Birds, and METZ was Iceage, the youngest of the four bands with easily the most buzz surrounding them. And with that favor came the band's less-than proud reputation of its listless live shows, which, given their youth, was somewhat unsurprising.

Preceding Iceage were three groups with consummate energy. White Lung, starting relatively early, ripped through last year's Sorry LP as guests leaked out of the earlier church ceremonies upstairs. Given the band's relatively surging popularity and the fact that the Vancouver group boasted the only female acts of the entire night (a welcome sign in the least), it was somewhat surprising that local band Night Birds were set to play afterwards.

The New Jersey punk band housed some of the nights best energy, which coincidentally featured a fellow Rowan University friend on guitar (awesome). Their self-branded American stylized punk wasn't much of a separator in terms of individual vision, but the piece-by-piece energy output of the foursome was certainly adept for the basement.

Which led to Toronto trio METZ, which had arguably the most proud reputation of ecstatic live displays. Each of the three acts soundly followed the last, showing its own merits and setting themselves apart from one another, with METZ coming out arguably as the night's best. They didn't meander through in-between song discussions, suffered little to no technical setback, and confidently strode through as a band that profoundly knew had to make a name for themselves.

As side-ways rain began to fall outside, making the floors even slicker than before from beer and sweat, Iceage quickly topped off the night. Still the biggest name of the four, the crowd stayed packed, and was more than admiring. The Dutch foursome still had some issues outside of lead singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt commanding his own spot, but a more than anxious crowd helped deter what could of otherwise been seen as a standard quick performance. Which proved, more than anything else, that crowd command matters more than young artists might realize.