Summer Camp is a group of Swedes who “met at summer camp when [they] were fourteen.” Or at least that’s the story. In their song “Why Don’t You Stay” they sing “think back to the summer/days went on forever/and we thought we’d never, never get old” — and while they certainly won’t be able to avoid aging, their timeless lo-fi-pop tunes just may.
“Ghost Train” may well be the most infectious autumn love song of the year. It seems built for reminiscing about stubborn ex-lovers whose trains have long left the station; but it’s not aching nostalgia that you’ll feel, but an overwhelming sense of satisfaction.
“I Only Have Eyes For You” is a cover of a 75-year-old love song given the 2009 lo-fi-pop treatment: fuzz, loops, and fuzz (although the original 1934 recording may well have been fuzzy too). This song is not a must like “Ghost Train”, but — given the lack of available material from Summer Camp — it’s worthwhile.
I’m not the first person to say something like this, but Memory Tapes‘ “all original 17 minute epic and love letter to the art of horror movie scoring” is the perfect synthetic soundtrack for street wandering during the cold eerie nights of Canada’s late October; trust me, I’ve tested it. Digitally-spin “Walk Me Home” alongside Salem and Fever Ray and voila: instant indie-synth Hallows Eve.
Wild Nothing is a one-man bedroom-pop act belonging to Virginia’s Jack Tatum. The band has a 7″ (pictured above) entitled “Summer Holiday” (supposedly influenced by this: note the hipsters on bicycles) currently available for pre-order on Captured Tracks (see Woods, the Bitters, Blank Dogs, Brilliant Colours, Dum Dum Girls, Little Girls, and the Mayfair Set).
After listening to a few Wild Nothing tracks it’s easy to see why the band’s top MySpace friends include Pearl Harbour, My Bloody Valentine, and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart — haze, pop, romance, and DIY are all keywords here.
The band’s lead (non)single “Confirmation” straddles a gorgeous– very 2009 relevant– textural line somewhere between Memory Tapes and the Pains.
“Cloudbusting” is a worthwhile Kate Bush cover that sounds very much at home next to “Confirmation”. It also happens to be an ideal tune for laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and imagining clouds shaped like lovers.
Two excellent new tracks from Washed Out have entered the free-MP3-economy since my recent blog-post on Ernest Greene’s musical project. Washed Out has been getting coverage from all over the blogosphere lately, including the previously mentioned story from No Pain In Pop, a Forkcast MP3-premiere & Track Review from Pitchfork, an MP3 debut at Gorilla vs. Bear, and an article entitled “Is WASHED OUT the next Neon Indian/Memory Cassette” from Hipster Runoff.
“Feel It All Around” is the kind of chill-wavery that a newly dubbed genre could be remembered by.
Neon Indian is one of Alan Palomo’s musical projects, and it’s his best. Ghosthustler was entertaining, VEGA was fun, and Neon Indian is downright awesome. If you like any of Palomo’s work, you’re destined to love this, and if you weren’t previously a fan of the man, you’re likely to become one now. Of all the amazing summer-friendly tunes released over the last few months, Neon Indian’s have received the most playtime on my stereo, and have been the most well received by my friends.
The forthcoming-debut LP is called Psychic Chasms, and it’s currently floating around in some bloggers’ pockets. After spending time with the album, I can assure you that it’s good… really good. If anyone had any lingering (possibly Crystal Castles-inspired?) doubt in their minds about Palomo’s capabilities, it has officially been put to rest.
Neon Indian sounds like the most infectious synth-heavy sun-soaked psychedelic electro-pop music ever recorded to cassette-tape and stretched to brilliant-deformity by a “shit it ate my tape” accident. Psychic Chasms definitely exudes a recorded-to-expired-tape aesthetic, whether or not that’s actually the case.
“Deadbeat Summer” is one of the standout tracks from Psychic Chasms; it sets the tone for the album, and you will love how it immediately becomes a well-aged and historically-ambiguous slacker summer-theme… it’s as if the song was recorded well ahead of its time and lost in an old cassette box for 20 years.
“Terminally Chill” is the best titled song ever (although I’ve heard that “Should have taken acid with you” is the best song title ever). The title perfectly embodies the music, and the music sounds like the perfect antithesis for terminal illness.
“Should have taken acid with you” because we would “touch the stars and the planets too… take our clothes off and swim in the nude… tell my parents that I’m staying with you.”
“6669 (I don’t know if you know)” but you know now: Neon Indian is taking over the dream-waves (aka chill-waves), one timeless synth-blissed song after another. I wonder if this (the 6th track on the album) is a nod to 669 Polaroid film?
Nathan Williams is missing a skateboard benefit concert for surgery on the arm he broke skateboarding, but he posted a new demo to his Ghost Ramp blog for us to “jam on” until he’s back.
“Mickey Mouse” is reportedly not going past ‘demo’ stage, but this song is great: lo-fi Wavves adds sampled-loops to his song structure, hits the 5:31 mark, and undoubtedly causes a blog-load of unexpected Animal Collective comparisons. Comparison #1: “It sounds like lo-fi Animal Collective!” And yes, indeed, the loops make “Mickey Mouse” sound a lot like Animal Collective… and I like this direction.
Stereogum pointed out that Thom Yorke played a new song during his solo-set at Latitude, and they recommended that we “go for a piss,” so I did… I think.
Washed Out is a South Carolinian no-fi (one-man?) band that has been glazed by synthesizers, blessed by elegantly non-intrusive vocals, and mired by delightfully down-beat-yet-blissful electronic percussion. Washed Up is going to make you want to get up and dance and get down and chill at the same time — sort of an uppers-meets-downers synth-cocktail, not entirely unlike that recently stunning Panda Bear & Atlas Sound collaboration.
I don’t think I can put my finger on Washed Up’s key influences (they could be many) but the music certainly sounds like a middle-ground between Kleerup and Toro Y Moi; although, judging by both the tape-cover (pictured above) and the recent NPIP article, Washed Out may well be seeking a sun-bleached aesthetic-categorization that combines the psychadelic-day-glo-pop of Nite Jewel with the trippy-lo-fi-fuzz of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Grafitti with the never ending wave of west coast indie-surf-poppers, like Pearl Harbour and Best Coast; there’s surfable breaks not too far from Columbia, SC., right?
“Get Up” is definitely 80’s synth-pop meets lo-fi late 00’s indie-pop. Every once and a while the beats and notes stutter and slide ever so slightly off-pitch, creating that (recently deployed by Neon Indian) effect that simultaneously sounds irrestibable and utterly incorrect.
“New Theory” is inferior to “Get Up” — I’m basing that on the fact that the song sounds too obviously recycled, like a retro-influenced Kleerup tune with the fidelity turned down; in fact, I’m almost positive that “New Theory” is built on a looping Kleerup sample; it’s still enjoyable though — don’t get me wrong — I just listened to way too much Kleerup last year.
Bradford Cox & Noah Lennox seriously need to make more music together. Their first collaboration is a fantastic sample-and-loop piece called “Walkabout” that will appear on Atlas Sound’s forthcoming album — the previously leaked in an unfinished state — Logos.
“Walkabout” is instantly one of my favorite songs of the year; it’s catchy sample-riff, looping lead-vocals, and Panda Bear’d background-harmonies are about to melt your ears.
The previously released live version of “Walkabout” was (unofficially) titled “Dovers Jam” — while enjoyable, the live version is light-years behind the ’studio’ version.
By this point you’ve probably been introduced to the indie-circa-now influenced classic-radio-transmissions of one of the years many new-ish (see Night Control, Wavves, Pearl Harbour, Ducktails, Real Estate, the Smith Westerns, etc.) contemporary lo-fi-basement child-ish prodigies: Kurt Vile — and if you haven’t, you can start with the new “Overnite Religion” from his forthcoming Matador debut album Childish Prodigy.
“Overnite Religion” is as good as or better than what I’d expect from Vile after spending some time with his rather enjoyable albums Constant Hitmaker and God Is Saying This To You…
Animal Collective. Fever Ray. Wavves. Grizzly Bear. Bat For Lashes. Telepathe. Camera Obscura. Here We Go Magic. Woods. St. Vincent. Micachu and the Shapes. Dirty Projectors. jj. Suckers. Burial & Four-Tet. Joker & Flying Lotus. Real Estate. Toro Y Moi. Neon Indian. Memory Cassette. Javelin. Pearl Harbour. Julian Lynch. Ducktails. Kurt Vile. The Mayfair Set. Nosaj Thing. Smith Westerns. Liechtenstein. YACHT. Bibio. Vivian Girls. Flaming Lips. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. The xx. Deerhunter. Salem. Delorean. Washed Out. Taken By Trees. Memory Tapes. Gold Panda. Girls. Atlas Sound. Health. Karl Blau. A Sunny Day in Glasgow. Cold Cave. El Perro Del Mar. Fuck Buttons.
[unofficial pic]
