It's been roughly a year since we've heard anything from Viennese producer SOHN, who lifted the brand new "Lessons" from his forthcoming full-length debut. The limber, delicate track ebbs between sun-soaked R&B and subtle electro inspiration, a la How To Dress Well at its best.
Check the track out below, which will be released as a digital single September 23 and on 12" in November, courtesy of 4AD.
Canadian producer Jacques Greene has a new LP on the way this fall, but Lucky Me is offering limited vinyl copies of his brand new soulful endeavor, "B1. Faithful." The track, which features a mysterious vocalist that no one has seemed to figure out yet, is an unconscious gem, gliding ever so generously between bedroom pop and foggy urban soul. If you can't get your hands on a copy (side A is "One Your Side" featuring How To Dress Well), stream the track below.
Details of the forthcoming EP release from Montreal producer Jacques Greene are finally seeing the light of day. The full tracklist, which is available at FACTMag, also contains this new cut featuring the help of How To Dress Well. Aesthetically speaking, considering Greene's penchant for combing house and R&B, it's a perfect match that suits the two parties well.
Stream "On Your Side" below. Greene's EP of the same name will be released digitally June 3, with physical copies coming out July 1. Pre-orders are available now, which will come with the radio edit title track which premiered today on Zane Lowe'sBBC Radio 1 show.
A few days back, San Francisco producer YR SKULL debuted his remix of Seatraffic's warming "Superficial Heart" over at Fader. The single is the first of many from Seatraffic, which is planning a few more singles in the coming weeks.
In the wake of the original release, Seatraffic has released an EP and performed alongside acts like How To Dress Well, Beacon, and Ruby Suns around in the duo's native San Francisco.
Check out the original version and the remix below, courtesy of Seatraffic's Bandcamp and catch the band at SXSW next week.
Featured on Shlomo's upcoming Laid Out EP is the glorious and flat-out-awesome "Don't Say No" collaboration with Tom Krell, aka How To Dress Well.
The single, which will be the lead track on the EP (out March 4), combs Shlomo's spacey production with Krell's crafty R&B into something extraordinary. Check it below.
"& It Was U," one of the enigmatic tracks off How To Dress Well's celebrated Total Loss LP, has been given a glossy remix from Elite Gymnastics. Tom Krell's falsetto is still the star of the track, but EG's production throws a little light house to give it some welcome flavor.
Every time I seem to look away, Vienna-via-Britain producer Sohn has something new out. This new elegant and serene track "Red Lines" grooves in peacefully enough with Sohn's sweeter-than-expected vocals (a la How To Dress Well), but finishes all his own. Check it out below.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Albums Of The Month - September 2012
Alright, I missed August. If I was searching for excuses I'd say, "Well, I was on vacation and ..." But in reality, there just wasn't a ton that I loved from last month. Is that a good enough reason to skip it? Probably not. But it happened and we all have to deal with it. So lets recap September and act like we didn't miss anything.
3.) Jens Lekman - I Know What Love Isn't
Jens Lekman is one of those names that comes with easy indie music familiarity. He's consistently producing solid records, but never anything that launches his name to the next recognized level. Basically, he's easy to accept and appreciate, but hard to genuinely love.
So does I Know What Love Isn't necessarily separate itself from the rest of Lekman's catalog? Not totally. The songs are serene, thoughtful, and sweet - just as you might expect - and have a warm kitsch to it all. It's a knocking reminder of the tender swill that comes through the best of Belle & Sebastian, hitting notes of gentle strings and full harmony on tracks like "Become Someone Else's." In terms of a grand scope, I Know What Love Isn't isn't flourishing with daring experiments - you can throw this anywhere in the Lekman discography and it'd fit in shockingly well - but that reminds you more and more how consistently good he has been over the years.
2.) The Killers - Battle Born
Shocking? Maybe.
Despite the booming careers of one of the most popular bands in the U.S., I have been shadily disinterested in The Killers. There's a somewhat guilty part in my heart of my profound appreciation of past tracks like "When You Were Young" and "All These Things That I Have Done," but there was never a personal fondness for their albums. Maybe the fact that Battle Born is actually good is more of a relief than anything; a vindication for why the band can be so popular. But I'd like to think that my praise has some sort of merit.
The album's opening half is surprisingly strong. Yes, there's a lofty exploration of unnecessarily big ideas from Brandon Flowers that can come off as vague cliches, but hell, it's being worked into damn good, catchy music. That description is fairly apt for the album's lead single "Runaways," which - just like "When You Were Young" and "All These Things That I Have Done" - reminds you how amazing the band can be, even though a lot of us don't like to admit it.
1.) How To Dress Well - Total Loss
Tom Krell, aka How To Dress Well, usually fit in a comfortable niche of soulful electro. Never terribly profound or otherwise, he fit into an expanding catalog of internet sub-genres that tired of explanation. So it may have been surprising how well Total Loss comes off, despite adhering to those same aesthetics.
The album, up and down, is terrifically engaging. Combing through Krell's light vocals and warm electronics, it's numbing and sweet, but still daring and exploratory. Take "Cold Nites" and "Say My Name Or Say Whatever"; the former acts as a straight up R&B single, but it bleeds into a dreary sample of someone reminding you that, "The only bad part about flying is having to come back down to the fucking world." And then, splash, you're back in Krell's romantic light. Jarred, but loving it that much more when it's there.
This new How To Dress Well remix comes from producer Koreless, who reworked the previously slow-driving song "Cold Nites" from his excellent sophomore release Total Loss. Check it out below.
"Cold Nites" - not "nights" in this instance - is the newest track from producer Tom Krell, akaHow To Dress Well. It's a soft, harmonizing R&B cut that follows the previous "Ocean Floor For Everything" from his upcoming release Total Loss.
Check the video-ish below and grab Total Loss September 18.
This new cut, "Ocean Floor For Everything," from Tom Krell's How To Dress Well project comes through with the quality production of a Jame Blake single, distorted, echoed loops with an R&B aesthetic. Check out the crafty single below.
