Happy Friday and Happy August, Freeloaders! We can’t believe how fast the summer has flown by already. So to start August off with a bang, we have a lot of free tracks and videos for you today from Beach Day, Conveyor, Lovely Bad Things, Menahan Street Band, Matthew Dear and TESTAMENT.
Happy listening!
Beach Day: “Beach Day” via SoundCloud or YouTube
Beach Day out now on Kanine Records
Conveyor: “Woolgatherer” via SoundCloud
Conveyor out now on Paper Garden Records
Lovely Bad Things: “I Just Want You To Go Away” and “Dinosaur Song” via YouTube
New Ghost/Old Waves out now on Volcom Entertainment
Menahan Street Band: “The Crossing” via RollingStone
The Crossing out October 30th via Dunham/Daptone Records
Matthew Dear: “Her Fantasy (Poolside Remix)” via Pitchfork
Beams out August 28th via Ghostly International
TESTAMENT: “Native Blood” via YouTube
Dark Roots of Earth out now via Nuclear Blast Records
If you’re a fan of Matthew Dear‘s EP Headcage, released in January this year, you’ll remember the dense, mutating cluster of breaths, whispers and assorted technicolor sounds that coalesced into a hearty chug. Take that as Mr. Dear — the DJ/dance-music producer/experimental pop artist/bandleader – offering an early taste of what to expect from his fourth full-length Beams, the first since his 2010 shadowy masterpiece Black City.
Speaking of early tastes… Matthew just recently released “Her Fantasy,” the celebratory lead single from the album that signals its queasy optimism in classic Matthew Dear avant-pop form — that is, without verses and choruses per se, but by hustling through a series of wickedly catchy sections. The twisted internal logic of these sections becomes clear as the song progresses and builds to an ecstatic climax.
Beams, which is slated to hit stores in the U.K. and E.U. on 8/27 and in North America the next day, was recorded in Dear’s home studio and mixed at Nicolas Vernhes’ Rare Book Room studios in Brooklyn. The album evokes a day-lit dreamworld at once strange and familiar, and though its dancefloor-ready tempos, major keys, and sun-warmed synths may signal Beams as the lighter, brighter response to its predecessor, if you take a closer look you’ll see that it actually reveals a squirming mass of oddball details. Matthew’s latest productions creak and groan like anxious organisms, with slivers of guitar, electric bass and drum kit darting in and out among the synths and samples.
It may be odd to hear this former techno-wunderkind playing rock music, but the manic punk pulse of the track “Earthforms” is just one facet of Beams‘ kaleidoscopic journey. Call it a well-mixed cocktail of optimism and uneasiness or a battle between musical mischief and lyrical maturity, Beams is the latest transmission from one of pop music’s most fascinating creative minds!
With the release of their acclaimed debut, This Is for the White in Your Eyes, Choir Of Young Believers became a powerful new talent, possessed of a fully formed vision, compositional ingenuity, and a tenor to die for.
While White in Your Eyes racked up overwhelmingly positive international press, it can practically be seen as a soft launch for Choir of Young Believers’ masterful new album Rhine Gold, which just recently hit stores on Ghostly International.
Led by Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, Choir expands on the the success of White in Your Eyes. Now a proper band, the collaborative dynamic has imbued their sound with more authority and daring, as Choir inhabits a wholly unique space where intimate folk, classic Krautrock, big-sky Americana, avant-garde composition and bombastic theatricality seamlessly serve the same master.
Like Choir’s music, Makrigiannis’ powerful voice unifies the ambitious scope of Rhine Gold by sounding at once dolorous and magisterial. The rich, enveloping production does wonders to corral such creative largess under a unified, sepia-toned song cycle.
See for yourself in their live session of the song “Rhine Gold” from their latest album by the same name:
Choir of Young Believers – Rhine Gold (live session) by BangOn
