Electro – Page 64 – 7th Level Music

Haelos’ new album, “Any Random Kindness,” is due May 10th, but the first haunting single from the record, “Kyoto,” is out now.

HÆLOS will release their sophomore effort, Any Random Kindness, on May 10th via Infectious. Any Random Kindness examines the search for connection in an increasingly fractured world. It’s the follow up to 2016’s intricately-layered, trip hop-influenced Full Circle, a debut album “that both cements them in a genre and leaves them room to grow” (Pitchfork). In conjunction with today’s album announcement, HÆLOS share a new song, “Kyoto,” and an accompanying video.

The first full album cycle for HÆLOS was a baptism of fire, and the year-long creation of Any Random Kindness pushed HÆLOS to the edge and back again. On winding up the Full Circle tour in January 2017, the trio — Lotti Benardout, Arthur Delaney, and Dom Goldsmith — returned to London and immediately installed touring guitarist Daniel Vildósola as a full-time member of the band. His classical background and technical prowess brought a new level of musicality and equilibrium to the band.

For Any Random Kindness, HÆLOS reassessed their creative approach, conducting songwriting experiments – writing a song an hour or finishing a track and then stripping it down and completely re-doing it. Delaney returned to writing on acoustic guitar, while Goldsmith retreated into his love of dance music and the minimal techno of Ricardo Villalobos. The band recorded the album with producer Orlando Leopard at Baltic Studios in East London and at their home studio, and it was mixed by Matt Wiggins (Glass Animals) and Marta Salongi (The xx, Bjork). The latter part of the recording was especially tense, with many near breakups. However, this process led to a new, optimistic perception of each other, and music that explored the push and pull of relationships. A new, increasingly dance-floor oriented direction to their sound emerged.

Throughout Any Random Kindess, HÆLOS refer to different facets that affect the modern world – the isolating nature of technology and social media, the looming climate change, their relationships with each other, and corrupt politics, as heard on “Kyoto,” a glitchy, yet catchy slice of electronica that critiques politicians who prioritize economics above the environment.

Any Random Kindness shows a newly developed HÆLOS, one that’s eager to push forward. Catch them live throughout North America this spring.

Watch “Kyoto” Video – https://Haelos.lnk.to/KyotoVideoPR

Stream “Kyoto” – https://Haelos.lnk.to/KyotoPR

Pre-order Any Random Kindness – https://Haelos.lnk.to/AnyRandomPR

Watch HÆLOS’ “Buried In The Sand” Video – https://Haelos.lnk.to/BITSVidPR

Any Random Kindness Tracklist: 1. Another Universe 2. Buried in the Sand 3. End of World Party 4. Kyoto 5. ARK 6. Boy Girl 7. Deep State 8. Empty Skies 9. Happy Sad 10. So Long, Goodbye 11. Last One Out (Turn the Lights Off)

HÆLOS Tour Dates: Thurs. Feb. 21 – Berlin, DE @ Badehaus Fri. Feb. 22 – Brussels, BE @ The Rotonde at Botanique Sat. Feb. 23 – Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet Tue. March 12 – Sat. March 16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW Sat. March 16 – Sun. March 17 – Mexico City, MX @ Vive Latino Tue. March 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom Wed. March 20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent Fri. March 22 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge Sat. March 23 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Sun. March 24 – Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall Wed. March 27 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Thurs. March 28 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall Fri. March 29 – Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar Sat. March 30 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison Mon. April 1 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB Tue. April 2 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall Fri. April 5 – New York, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg Sat. April 6 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall Thu. May 16 – London, UK @ EartH (Hackney Arts Centre) Fri. June 7 – Sat. June 8 – London, UK @ Field Day

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Turning Jewels into Water’s debut album, “Map of Absences,” due March 15th.

Turning Jewels Into Water is a live electronic duo led by Indian-born drummer/producer Ravish Momin along with Haitian electronic percussionist Val Jeanty. They seamlessly blend futuristic turntables, ritual chants, polyrhythmic percussion, live loops and synth melodies along with rhythms inspired by global dance music. Their new album, Map of Absences, will be released March 15th via FPE Records. They share the lead single, “Dark waters rushing in,” with an accompanying video directed by Travis Williams and featuring Flex Dancer Infinite.Brynn and Fire dancer RaNubi.

Watch Turning Jewels Into Water’s “Dark waters rushing in” Video – https://youtu.be/TAKwMvOgri0

This new project with Val Jeanty arose from her participation in a jam session at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY while Momin was artist-in-residence there in September of 2017. Their collaboration, rooted in improvisation, evokes the esoteric realms of the creative subconscious. Drawing from the voodoo religion, Val recreates the ancient rhythm and pulse of Haiti through digital beats, while Momin, whose own musical background is rooted in Indian, North African and Middle Eastern traditions, has developed an original blend of electro-acoustic beats, drawing together the improvisational traditions in Jazz and Indian folk music. Together, they employ cutting-edge music-technological tools such as acoustic drums outfitted with Sensory Percussion triggers, Force Sensing Resistor (FSR) drum pads and Smart Fabric MIDI Controllers, but still emphasize the ritual aspects of creating music in the digital realm.

Their unique sounds quickly caught the interest of music curators and in 2018 they performed at the Bang On A Can Marathon (NYC), ZEZ Festival (Croatia), Tarcento Jazz Festival (Italy) and various venues in Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Italy. They closed out the year with a two-day run in Washington, DC where they performed at the Flash of the Spirit Festival at Georgetown University and the Anacostia Arts Center. They released a critically-acclaimed EP on FPE Records entitled Which Way is Home, which featured remixes from rising-stars Slikback and Zilla, both of whom came heartily recommended by the crew that operates the Kampala, Uganda-based Nyege Nyege Tapes record label.

“Our full-length record, Map of Absences, is a reflection on the regressive state of human rights, deepening refugee crises and the worsening impacts of climate change worldwide. Imagine a world where refugees of color are free to cross borders, LGBTIA people are treated fairly and respectfully, and environmental healing technologies are widespread. These ideas are unfortunately absent from our current reality. We say ‘absent’ instead of ‘forgotten’ as the latter implies an instance of memory or a record of those things having existed. Musically, we drew inspiration from artists such as DJ Lag, Nidia, DJ Rashad, Nihiloxica, and Epic B amongst our other varied global influences. For the album artwork we tapped Marissa Malik, a UK-based artist whose work evokes the mystical and empowered mythical beings. For remixes, we returned to Kenyan maverick Slikback (Hakuna Kulala) and also approached PlayPlay (who ran the legendary Party Illegal in Durham, NC for years) and the modular-synth wielding producer Nueve Vidas from Mexico City.”

Turning Jewels Into Water will tour in support of Map of Absences this spring. A list of dates is below with more to be announced soon.

Watch “Dark waters rushing in” Video – https://youtu.be/TAKwMvOgri0

Stream “Dark waters rushing in” – https://open.spotify.com/track/0x5C7SNgT8TjhnHhSHhD7G?si=KirQJ8-jTdyjUwKv8aQ7fw

Pre-order Map of Absences – https://fperecs.bandcamp.com/album/map-of-absences

Turning Jewels Into Water Live: Saturday, March 16 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Warhol Museum Wednesday, March 20 – Boston, MA @ MassArt Friday, March 22 – Brooklyn, NY @ Arete Saturday, March 23 – Williamsburg, MA @ Grange Hall (Collider 5 w/ Noura Mint Seymali)

Keep your mind open.

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Buke and Gase release video for title track from upcoming album – “Scholars.”

The date swiftly approaches for the new album, their first in almost 6 years, from New York duo Buke and Gase. Scholars, the long-awaited follow-up to 2013’s General Dome, will be released January 18th via Brassland. They’ve previously shared 3 new songs off the album, displaying an uncompromisingly diverse aesthetic and sonic palette. Any previous attempts to pigeon-hole the band as a curio, a duo of experimental mad scientists with DIY instruments, is blown out of the water with these utterly unique, forward-thinking songs. Their new album embraces a form of expression that is more concise, more emotional & less perverse in its uniqueness. They have embraced the same computer- and synthesizer-driven creative tools that make electronic music, pop and trap music function, while existing entirely in their own, fully imagined universe of sound.

Which brings us to today, when the band shares the album’s title track and announces a slew of tour dates in Europe and the United States. Here’s what singer Arone Dyer had to say about Scholars:

“When I sing this, I picture a quintessential trouble child whose parents express a need for the control they know they don’t have. When I sing this, I picture being gaslit by a lover. When I sing this, I imagine myself bigger than I am, and growing, a crown of stars waits for me. When I sing this, my chest billows with a desire to believe that I will overcome my faults, even though the subtle judgment that I won’t by those I love compresses my spine, keeping me Earthbound. I extend this empathy to those whose truths aren’t yet recognized by contradictive social expectations.”

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “SCHOLARS” https://youtu.be/proUg8S6wVg

BUKE AND GASE TOUR DATES Sun. Feb. 3 – Catskill, NY @ Catskill Mill Mon. March 4 – Manchester, UK @ The Castle Tue. March 5 – London, UK @ The Lexington Wed. March 6 – Dublin, IE @ The Grand Social Thu. March 7 – Paris, FR @ Supersonic Fri. March 8 – Cologne, DE @ Stadtgarden Sun. March 10 – Berlin, DE @ Berliner Festspiele Mon. March 11 – Jena, DE @ Trafo Tue. March 12 – Nuremberg, DE @ Kantine Wed. March 13 – Munich, DE @ Rote Sonne Thu. March 14 – Dündingen, SE @ Bad Bonn Fri. March 15 – Turin, IT @ Blah Blah Wed. March 27 – New Haven, CT @ Space Ballroom Thu. March 28 – Boston, MA @ The Middle East Club Fri. March 29 – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo Sat. March 30 – Toronto, ON @ Monarch Tavern Tue. April 2 – Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong

WATCH “DERBY” https://youtu.be/Jro9yH78hwY WATCH “NO LAND” https://youtu.be/bW0K31nZEEQ WATCH “PINK BOOTS” https://youtu.be/pv4U713Yk6cgo

PRAISE FOR BUKE AND GASE “No other bands sound quite like the duo of Buke & Gase” — NPR Music “It’s got a creepy kind of magic to it” — Stereogum [about “Derby” “thumping, skronking, ever-ascending guitar-pop oddity about the looming environmental crisis our planet is facing…eerily catchy refrain” — Stereogum [about “No Land”] “no real adequate response to what Buke And Gase is beyond ‘listen to them yourself’” — The Sound Board

Buke and Gase Online: https://bukeandgase.com/ https://bukeandgase.bandcamp.com/ https://instagram.com/bukeandgase/ https://facebook.com/bukeandgase/ https://twitter.com/bukeandgase

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Top 30 Albums of 2018: #’s 10 – 6

Here we are at my top 10 albums of the year. Read on to see who made the cut.

#10: Khruangbin – Con Todo El Mundo – I was a bit late to the Khruangbin party, but I’m glad I showed up. This three-piece makes beautiful psychedelic jazz with few vocals. The tones they produce are so clear they’re almost like Tibetan mediation singing bells.

#9: Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer – Ms. Monae is a genius. She can blend hip-hop, R&B, electro, jazz, and rock with such ease that it sounds like she’s cloned herself at least five times and each of those clones studied a different genre to mastery. Knowing her love of androids and science fiction, this wouldn’t surprise me at all if it were true.

#8 – Cookin’ Soul and MF DOOM – DOOM XMAS – I don’t remember how I stumbled upon this album after Christmas Day, but I’m glad I did. It’s a wicked mix of lyrics by MF DOOM and Christmas-inspired beats by Cookin’ Soul. Any DOOM is good DOOM, and this collaboration is among his best.

#7: Throw Down Bones – Two – I stumbled upon this excellent electro / industrial / rave album on Bandcamp and it turned out to be the best electronic music record I heard all year. This will be booming in your favorite club soon if it isn’t already.

#6: Ron Gallo – Stardust Birthday Party – I’ve enjoyed Mr. Gallo’s garage punk music since I saw him open for Screaming Females in a dive bar a couple years ago. Now he’s put out a Zen-punk record that blew my mind and included my top single of the year – “Always Elsewhere.”

The top five will be revealed tomorrow!

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Top 30 Albums of 2018: #’s 25 – 21

#25: Protomartyr – Consolation – This EP from these garage punks is solid and intriguing. Sporting two tracks with the Breeders’ Kim Deal as well, the record hits hard but knows when to be soft.

#24: Steve Hauschildt – Dissolvi – I hadn’t heard of Steve Hauschildt until this album somewhat fell into my lap. It’s intriguing electro that reveals more layers with each listen.

#23: Bev Rage and the Drinks – Cockeyed – Besides having the naughtiest album name on this list, Cockeyed is also one of the best punk records I’ve heard in a long while. Queercore punk is back in business, bitches!

#22: Public Practice – Distance Is a Mirror – This post-punk EP from prior members of WALL was a welcome addition to my collection of post-punk records. It’s full of razor sharp lyrics and equally sharp guitars, bass, and beats.

#21: All Them Witches – ATW – These Nashville psychedelic blues rockers upped the volume and fuzz and became a three-piece to get back to basics and melt faces.

The top 20 is up next!

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Top 30 Albums of 2018: #’s 30 – 26

Here’s the list you’ve all been waiting for. As always, there are so many good albums out every year that it’s impossible to keep track of them all. Here are my top thirty.

#30: The Dunes (self-titled) – A great return for the Dunes, this album of Australian psychedelic rock is full of reverb, fuzz, and even surf touches.

#29: Underworld and Iggy Pop – Teatime Dub Encounters – This EP was made during lunch meetings at a hotel and blends great stories from Pop with Underworld’s masterful beats.

#28: Avis: Sova – Shampoo You – This Chicago’s three-piece’s newest garage rock-psych record gets better with each listen.

#27: Windhand – Eternal Return – This doom metal album became one of my favorites of the year as soon as I heard it. I immediately began recommending them to anyone and even bought it as a birthday gift for a pal.

#26: Makeness – Loud Patterns – This electro album wasn’t on my radar until Makeness’ label sent it to me for review. It turned out to be a solid record with interesting structures to it.

We’re into the top 25 tomorrow. Come back for more!

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Top 20 Singles of 2018: #’s 5 – 1

Here we go!

#5: “Limp Wrist” by Bev Rage and the Drinks – This queercore punk delivers a wallop in under two minutes. This song floored me when I heard it, and I started telling everyone I knew about Ms. Rage and her band.

#4: “How Did This Happen!? by BODEGA – The return of post-punk continues with this great NYC band and this single that trashes hipsters. I couldn’t stop listening to this once I heard it.

#3: “Blinded by the LEDs” by Lindstrom – If you need an amazing EDM track, floor-filler, workout playlist topper, or just something to be stunned by, look no further.

#2: “Make Me Feel” by Janelle Monae – Easily the sexiest song of the year. I can’t describe it any better than that.

#1: “Always Elsewhere” by Ron Gallo – This Zen-punk jam became my mantra after hearing it. It was a much-needed crack with a Zen master’s stick during months of chaos both local and domestic. Gallo‘s suggestion that we embrace presence instead of the willful scattering of our attention is a battle call.

Thanks for reading. Up next, the top 30 live acts I saw in 2018.

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Top 20 singles of 2018: #’s 20 – 16

2018 was the first year I started keeping track of my favorite singles of the year. It’s probably because there were so many good ones, including some that were just released as singles and others that stuck in my head for days. Who made the top 20? Read on and find out.

#20: “Sleepers” by Exploded View – This dreamy psych / synth track is a trippy mix of Velvet Underground and 80’s synthwave. It’s the kind of track that makes you wonder, “Who is this?” as soon as you hear it.

#19: “Nocturnal” by Magic Wands – Easily one of the best synthwave tracks of the year, this lush song is great for make-out sessions and has just enough of a dark edge to keep it dangerous.

#18: “You Are Dinner” by Constant Lovers – Good grief, does this thing have power. It’s a wild rock track with punk guitars and spat lyrics that the lead singer almost screws up but uses the moment to push his vocals even further.

#17: “Wheel of Fortune” by Protomartyr – The video of this shows one of the band members punching himself in the face. That’s apt, because this songs hits you just like that (especially when the chorus kicks in).

#16: “Singularity” by Jon Hopkins – The build of this electronic track is stunning to behold. It almost takes you by surprise like a big wave you didn’t see coming while standing hip-deep in the ocean. It’s over far too soon.

Who made the top 15? Come back tomorrow to find out.

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Review: Celer – Memory Repetitions

Will Long, also known as Celer, has been creating ambient music since 2006. His journeys around the world (and current residency in Japan) have certainly shaped his art. The collections of sounds and moods on his newest 5-CD album, Memory Repetitions, could be played anywhere from a meditation retreat to a busy international airport.

The album consists of five tracks, the shortest of which is twenty-eight minutes and thirty-one seconds. This isn’t an album for house parties or your high-intensity cardio playlist. It’s an album of meditations, calming sounds, and mood-altering music. It’s difficult to describe, but one you’ll enjoy on your headphones as you stroll along the river or when you need to slow down the world outside your front door or even in your living room.

There are no lyrics. It doesn’t need them. It’s not an album that tells you what to think or an album that pushes an agenda. It lets your mind wander or stop, depending on what’s happening around you at the time.

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The KVB announces U.S. tour dates for 2019.

British synthwave duo The KVB have announced several dates for a U.S. spring 2019 tour to promote their upcoming album Only Now Forever. Don’t miss this tour if you love vintage synths, electronic beats, and having your perception altered.

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