Neon Indian releases the official music video for the track Annie, off their current album Vega Intl. Night School. Directed by lead singer, Alan Palomo, the music video is essentially a karaoke video turned fever dream in which Alan has to traverse B-roll cityscapes, taped over TV shows, and phone sex commercial breaks in search of a missing ex-lover. Shot over 8 cities on Neon Indian's last tour of Asia, all libidinal hell breaks loose in this glistening meta ode to laserdisc-era sing-alongs.
Cass McCombs and frequent collaborator Focus Creeps present a new video for “Medusa’s Outhouse,” off upcoming album Mangy Love. As described by Focus Creeps’ Aaron Brown, “the video for ‘Medusa's Outhouse’ has to do with wondering what are the fantasies of the people who act out our fantasies for us? Where does fantasy end?” Mangy Love is McCombs’ eighth full-length album and debut for ANTI. It’s his most blunt, tackling sociopolitical issues through his uniquely cracked lens of wit and singular insight. With a common thread of opposition sewing the album together, the severity of his lyrics is contrasted by the music, which ventures into groovy realms of Philly soul, Norcal psychedelia and New York paranoia. Mangy Love is available for pre-order now.
Now that Calvin Klein has finally announced that Raf Simons will be taking over the brand as its designer, a bitter sweet sentiment has swept throughout the fashion industry. Last year, when Cathy Horyn sat down with Raf for what amounted to his Dior exit interview, published by System Magazine, one couldn’t be faulted for thinking that Raf seemed totally done with luxury fashion houses. This was an artist struggling with the fact that he no longer had the time to find inspiration to create. Deadlines had worn him down, and it was time for him to re-focus on his own revolutionary label. The fact that Raf’s last two collections, one inspired by his heroes such as David Lynch, Martin Margiela and Cindy Sherman, and one a beautiful collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe archive, were his best menswear collections since collaborating with Sterling Ruby seemed to signal that Raf was back in his element, filtering counter-culture, art, music, and radical gender politics into his clothing. Click here to listen
Oscar Key Sung is a rising name in Australia's independent music scene, coming out of Melbourne. He's been steadily releasing music through collaborative projects and on his own for the past few of years, but it is his unique approach to blending experimental electronic beats with RnB vocals yet keeping a pop-style element to his sound, that has gained him attention as an emerging solo artist. His latest single 'Hands' from his anticipated debut full length album see's him continue to captivate us sonically and visually with a music video that features minimalistic contemporary dance and lighting effects. Ahead of his album to be release later this year, we spoke to him about the new record, how he defines his distinctive style and his introduction into music. Click here to read more.
Nomadic experimental trio Soundwalk Collective has shared a new video for “Killer Road” from their collaborative album of the same name with Jesse Paris Smith and Patti Smith. Killer Road is a tribute to Nico, featuring immersive soundscapes by Soundwalk Collective and Jesse Paris Smith with Patti Smith reciting lyrics and poetry from throughout the Velvet Underground singer’s life. The album is due out September 2nd on Sacred Bones and is now available to preorder HERE.
Who is Dope Saint Jude? For one thing, she is subversive: a self-produced black queer woman from South Africa who is breaking into the cis-male dominated hip hop scene. She is cool: tattoos, leather, glitter on her lips; she has guys on gold chains in her music videos, and next week she is flying to France for the second leg of her tour. She is revolutionary: using hip hop and mad aesthetics as a means to talk about queer visibility, the politics of the brown body, the radical act of self-empowerment. Dope Saint Jude drinks coffee with you, talks about going back to school to legitimize and expand her political consciousness. Days later, you are sharing a joint and dancing at a party for which the theme is “70s DISCO, BLACK EXCELLENCE, and INEVITABLE SHINE.” In essence, Dope Saint Jude resists clean definitions. She is multi-faceted and she expands to include narratives we don’t normally read together. Click here to read more.
Cairobi have shared a psychedelic video for their new single "Lupo" made completely with magic markers by Sebaldo. Cairobi are a headily eclectic globe-crossing fourpiece of Giorgio Poti (vocals, guitars), Alessandro Marrosu (bass), Salvador Garza (keys) and Aurelien Bernard (drums). Their psych-pop, world music bordering sound reflects their various backgrounds from Italy and Mexico via France. "Lupo" follows the band's 2014 Distant Fire EP and the single "Gristly Words," which is taken from their forthcoming debut record along with EP track Zoraide. Lupo is a hypnotically lush yet despondently exultant track featuring exotic grooves and synth-dappled psychedelic haziness. Cairobi is set to play on August 10 at the Contronatura Festival in Italy. Click here to purchase the single.
Click here to listen.
Click here to read our interview with Alex Cameron.
These days, being an indie musician is harder than ever and no one knows that better than Aussie based Alex Cameron and his “business partner” and saxophonist Roy Molloy who have been on tour for three years supporting Cameron’s various releases. Next month, Cameron will release his official debut album, entitled Jumping The Shark on Secretly Canadian. The album is very much a collage of disillusionment – disillusionment with the music industry, love and life in general. It’s a raw album that howls with the sentiment of an artist that has been raked over the coals more than once. But it’s not all doom and gloom – these “four minute tales” of failed ambition and self-destruction that comprise the upcoming album are really relatable, listenable and offer a sense of catharsis akin to copping a fix. Click here to read more.
Click here to read.
For this Autre Friday Playlist, Mr. Pharmacist (aka Gregg Foreman) creates a rebellious set of U.K. anthems in honor, or dishonor for that matter, of the United Kingdom’s truly daft decision to leave the European Union. Creating the playlist from London, where he is currently playing a few shows with Cat Power, gives the mix a special firsthand potency. With tracks from The Fall, Clash, Buzzcocks and more, the playlist is a perfect soundtrack for a riot. Click here to listen.
For the past 16 years, the quintessential British electronic group Hot Chip has been releasing album after delicious album, with a bevy of catchy tracks that are pop magic at its majestic finest. At the core of Hot Chip is a singular voice that is longing, soulful and demonically angelic. That singular voice belongs to Alexis Taylor, who this month released a new solo album, simply titled Piano, that is perhaps best described as antithetical to the grand pop balladry of Hot Chip, or even his own past solo records, but still maintains that signature wistful expressiveness. If Hot Chip is music to get high to, and to dance the night away to, Taylor’s newest album is music for reflection, introspection and soul-searching. Click here to read more.
Listen to the playlist here.
Most people know Tim Heidecker from his brilliant Adult Swim series ‘Tim & Eric’s Awesome Show, Great Job!’ and ‘Tim & Eric’s Bedtime Stories.’ While it’s easy to use colorful adjectives to describe his brand of humor, it’s even harder to define it. Whatever it is, he’s developed a massive cult following. He’s an everyman that blends a sort of slobbish machismo with the mind of a stoner philosopher, but there is also something sinister about his wit and irreverent spin on, well, everything. Like every great comedian, Heidecker doesn’t identify himself as one. His role in Rick Alverson’s 2012 film The Comedy proves Heidecker is a brilliant, natural actor with an ability to show a haunting, dispossessed vulnerability that encapsulates a very distinct ennui and disillusionment belonging to the comedown between youth and middle age. As he gets wiser, Heidecker exudes a certain suburban boredom – a boredom that he makes seem exciting in his new album In Glendale. Click here to read more.
Produced, shot and edited by Minnie Bennett
Listen to this week's playlist, the second installment of June's Producer Series, highlighting the work of Michael Gira. Click here to listen.
Sydney’s Alex Cameron will release his debut album, Jumping The Shark, on August 19th via Secretly Canadian. Alex weaves intelligent, poignant lyricism with primitive 80s synths and seemingly minimalist arrangements recalling David Bowie and Ariel Pink, all under a Lynch-ian lense. "My name is Alex Cameron and I won't waste your time. You talk about my business partner, Roy Molloy, and me, you're talking about the online cowboys in the wild-west days of the World Wide Web. If you want to know what we're really about, the elbow of the whole scenario, just look at all the things you wish you'd done differently. All the things you stopped yourself from doing on account of the fear of failure, or rejection. Weigh that up against your ambitions. Think about your work ethic. We're reclaiming failure as an act of progress. An act of learning. Something to celebrate." Click here to preorder.
