Album Stream: Hit + Run - 777 (ft. Jeremiah Jae, Ras_G, Kutmah, Zeroh, Knxwledge, and more)

Southern California live screenprinting company Hit + Run might seem like an odd platform to release compilations, but the company - founded by Brandy Flower and Mike Crivello back in 2005 - has been curating these for a while now.

The group, which has previously held events at Coachella and SXSW, debuted the 777 29-track effort, which features the likes of B&B favorites Jeremiah Jae, Ras_G, Zeroh, Knxwledge, Kutmah, and plenty more. The entire comp can be bought on the Hit + Run Bandcamp, available below.

Album Stream: vhvl - myrrh

The newest entrant in the impossibly endless class of incredible new producers comes from Harlem resident vhvl, with her probably impossible to pronounce nine-track album myrrh.

Each track is equally hard to say, with none longer than three letters and pretty much absent of verbs. Hell, one of them isn't even letters, just two infinity symbols next to each other. I'm not that great at math but I'm pretty sure infinity x infinity cancels everything out too. So is the title really nothing?!

Anyway, the beats are strange, the loops are dark, and the album is awesome. Stream it below and download it at vhvl's Bandcamp.

Album Stream: ESTA - Paradise

If you're an American, you've just come back from a long weekend. If you aren't, we're jealous of your long weekends. Regardless, you may have missed this new album from San Diego's ESTA, Paradise. The Bandcamp LP (available for $7) is full of drifty haze lay-back tracks, kind of how everyone imagines San Diego to be. Hey, 70 degree year-round weather surprisingly never gets old.

Stream the entire album below.

Album Stream: The Frights - The Frights

Last Halloween, San Diego surf punks The Frights dished out the muddy, yet intrinsically tight self-titled LP, which gives an enlightening boost to the all-too-often forgotten genre. The band stays within relative quarters, playing with echoes and reverb steadily fitting its clear inspirations, but throws an added array of spit on the effort.

Listen to the 12-track mash below and order the LP on The Frights' Bandcamp.

Mutual Benefit - Golden Wake

The rise of Jordan Lee's Mutual Benefit has become one of the more endearing stories of the year. The rise from self-production on Bandcamp to Pitchfork's Best New Music is the first of its kind, and has been earning Lee some much appreciated attention.

With the physical release of Lee's Loves Crushing Diamond - a collection of previously cassette-only singles penciled in for a tiny release - on the way, the multi-instrumentalist has revealed another lush piece from the effort in "Golden Wake." The second track on the LP lifts into a peaceful stratosphere of subtle strings and Lee's yearning to understand personal freedom, giving even more promise for the effort.

The release comes December 3 courtesy of Other Music Recording Co., and January 7 on vinyl. Pre-orders can be made here. Otherwise, grab the LP on iTunes today.

Stream: Scallops Hotel - poplar grove

Emerging Mid-West rapper Milo quickly became one of the brightest new stars of 2013. His furiously fascinating work with Hellfyre Club, including his free Cavalcade, remains one of the year's best ventures. For that, it's easy to see why I'd grow so immediately attached to his side-project Scallops Hotel.

His new nine-track EP poplar grove showcases his out-of-mind verses and mystifying production; with the help of former collaborators Busdriver, Lee Bannon, and more. And as with everything else Milo touches, it's a must listen. Stream it below and buy the EP for $5 here.

Our Newest Obsession: Recycle Culture

Despite a strong 2013, I have completely missed out on the glory that is Recycle Culture. The producer debuted his four-track album No Note earlier today - an all-around stunning cascade of piano-heavy patterns and solemnly romantic expositions. It's heart-wrenching, engrossing, and "Holy Crap" pretty. Enough so to earn the first Our Newest Obsession tag of the year.

But it's only one of Recycle Culture's six(!) short albums released since late January. Each piece (check them out courtesy of his Bandcamp) drives from piano-heavy ambient sounds, but contains variations of tempo and mood within each. No Note, perhaps, stands out as the most starkly pretty, but it's only a small piece to the 2013 collage he's put together.

Check out No Note, in full, below, and order it by the "Name Your Price" discount.

Mutual Benefit - "Let's Play"/Statue Of A Man

After releasing a pair of cassette-only albums and playing endless small shows, singer-songwriter and one-person machine Jordan Lee (Mutual Benefit) has slowly but surely begun to earn his due recognition.

Lee combined his previous efforts for the upcoming LP Love's Crushing Diamond, which actually became the first Bandcamp-only release to jump to Pitchfork's Best New Music. Originally set for only a 250-LP copy release, Other Music jumped on board for full duties, which will be releasing it on CD December 3 in the U.S., and January 7 on vinyl. Pre-order physical copies here.

The digital version is available on iTunes now, which features the lush folk single "'Let's Play'/Statue Of A Man" below.

Stream: Jackie O - Psiconautica Vol​.​1

Jackie O's Psiconautica Vol. 1 slips delicately through the cracks in an ever-growing range of warming and welcoming modern Euro electro. Filling more on the side of the chill (the genre, not the college adjective of "how you feel"), the earthy production is as harmonious as it is sweet and mysterious.

The Milan producer's work will be distributed digitally July 8, with only 100 physical copies (pre-order here) going out July 29 on Apparel Music. For now, stream several of the available tracks from the release below.

Listen to Sufjan Stevens' new All Delighted People EP

It's been everywhere lately, and you know how I hate missing out, so here it is; Sufjan Stevens all new (really!) All Delighted People EP. The lengthy eight track EP - two of which best 10 minutes a piece - isn't anything from the Detroit folk-singer/songwriter's 50 state epic (still awaiting part III), but it's new Sufjan, something we haven't heard in a long time.

The EP is available today, via Asthmatic Kitty and Bandcamp Records. You can listen to the whole thing yourself right below.