Onra — L.O.V.E.

from Deep in the Night (June 2012)

I think the Onra tunes closest to my heart will always be the Vietnamese-pop-sampled-hip-hop gems from his 2008 record Les Chinoiseries, but his newer tracks are damn good too… look out for this one next month.

mhisadj:

It’s what the world needs, right? And it should often be this electro-funky.

Deep In The Night will groove its way into your heart on June the 12th.

Walsh — Be Cool Mang (2012)

I ♥ WALSH and his smoove jamzzzz 4 dansin

(Samples: ‘Play the Game’ by Cool Runners and ‘That’s Hot’ by Jesse G)

grab it at soundcloud

Dent May — Best Friend

from Do Things (June 12, 2012)

Dent May—easily one of my favorite pop singers out there right now. Puts on a fantastic show too. This guy is one part Brian Wilson, one part Elvis Costello and one part nightclub crooner. Oh yeah, can’t forget his Mississippi roots, either.

His new album comes out in a couple months.. until then, feast on this. And some older gems too…

Panabrite — Octopus in Your Dreams

from Sub-Aquatic Meditation (Aguirre Records, 2012)

Lovely scuba-diving sounds from Portland’s amazingly prolific Panabrite, aka Norm Chambers, a lover of “library production music, nature/science documentaries, and vintage electronic sounds.”

Analog at its most magical. Get it at bandcamp. (along with a huge number of other slow thrillers!) Or visit Panabrite at soundcloud / blogspot.

Single Lash — Curses

from Almost Breathing (forthcoming, 2012)

Ravishing.

yvynyl:

Austin’s no-fi cloudgazers asked filmmaker Melissa Cha to create a visual for them that would match their muted, k-hole sounds. I think she nails it. Here, her face melts to the sanguine movement of this viscous new track from the forthcoming record. Fitting that band leader Nicolas Nadeau is also a painter, as his painting practice “provides a synesthetic framework within which he approaches music- thinking of each song in terms of its textures, weight and other material properties.”

Look for the forthcoming Almost Breathing LP out soon. Don’t miss these soundz rendered live at SXSW this week - they’ll be set up at the Not Not Fun house show on Friday the 16th.  Be there.

Lushlife — Big Sur

from Plateau Vision (Apr 2012)

Lushlife previews a plush, gorgeously produced track from the forthcoming album Plateau Vision. Hat tip to PopThatRocks, who says: “album is out April 17 on Western Vinyl. Don’t forget to grab Lushlife’s free mixtape from last year if you haven’t yet.”

Indeed. And this track is up for grabs at bandcamp. Record release party at Glasslands April 18th.

K.S. Chithra — Indha Vennila

from K.S. Chithra (Finders Keepers, 2012)

Even after a dozen listens.. I’m still wondering.. what the hell is this? Starts off sounding like a hip-hop remix. Then a samba-esque soap opera theme.. then the sweet voice of K.S. Chithra—the “little nightingale”—comes floating in.. before a face-melting bass breakdown.

As always, Finders Keepers done right. This mind-blowing track features on the forthcoming F.K. compilation K.S. Chithra, an anthology of tracks from 1986-91 produced by the genial Kollywood (Tamil) music director Maestro Ilaiyaraaja. So weird.. so, so good.

From Finders Keepers:

There are few records you will hear this year that combine the sounds of a child’s choir, a DX7 bass line, three types of drum machine, a mariachi trumpet cry, a resampled forty-piece orchestra and an electronic bass line that takes the moog taurus by the horns and rides into the Indian summer. There is probably less chance of hearing a vocal performance so confusingly dazzling that it instantly detracts from the previously aforementioned wish list combination of bizarre instruments…

Get it: vinyl/cd … digital

My Friend Wallis — Better Things to Do (2012)

Some things get better with age. Forests, for example. They’re not called “Old Growth” for nothing, kid. Time has also been treating My Friend Wallis.. aka Crystal Dorval.. extremely well. Here’s she’s back with a dreamy jam and a beautifully shot video to match—all around the perfect antidote to purge those woods of any BlairWitchian evil and darkness!

yvynyl:

Met Crystal Dorval when she was playing bass for Mac DeMarco on tour in the summer of ‘10 and after exchanging emails, instantly fell in love with her dreamy lo-fi sound.  Hers is as fresh as a forest fern… Gawd, so jelly of all these North West bands that get to shoot videos like this in their backyards.  

“Shot on the fly” by PalaisNouveau. Single will be on a 7” split available from Student Loan Records on February 25th. You can check out more on Crystal’s Bndcmp.

Walsh — Welcome to 2k12

from Back 2 the High Life (2k12)

Been digging on the new Walsh release all week. Brandon Biondo strikes again! Get yer funk on at bandcamp or the sublime AMDISCS. And pop open a High Life while yer at it.

Grandparents — Fumes

from Fumes EP (2012)

Sprawling psychedelic sounds… spooky harmonies and clattering drums… from Portland’s Grandparents. Git over to bandcamp for more jams like this.

Hat tip to This Music Doesn’t Suck on this one.

Dustin Wong — Diagonally Talking Echo

from Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads (2012)

Dustin Wong’s music has always conjured up colors in my mind… the staccato guitar loops seem almost like a pointillist painting in sound. Here that color is visualized by Dustin himself, in the video for ‘Diagonally Talking Echo,’ a track from his new solo record, Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads, out Feb 21st on Thrill Jockey. (Get ready—he screams…)

Also on the Dreams theme, he wants your collaboration on the project “Say Your Dream, Create a Sound”:

Tell Dustin about a significant dream by recording a description of the dream to his Soundcloud page. Dustin will create and original piece of music inspired by each dream and incorporating your description, and post a selection of these recordings to his Soundcloud page beginning on Monday, February 20.

Catch him this Sat 1/21 at 285 Kent in Williamsburg with Akron/Family; Fri 2/3 at Glasslands; or Sat 2/4 at Wesleyan University.

Julia Holter — Marienbad

from Ekstasis (March 2012)

Wow. Wow. Her voice sounds like a synthesizer. Spooky, beautiful vocal loops in the bad-acid-trip Linda Perhacs vein. Definitely looking forward to this one.

earsofthebeholder:

Here’s a heavenly track off Julia Holter’s next album Ekstasis. Her 2011 release, Tragedy, is one of my favorites of this year - and this next one will no doubt be another hit. Check out more info on RVNG Intl.

Here’s the cover of the forthcoming Dinowalrus album Best Behavior — due Feb 2012.

The One, the Only, the Inimitable DOMINO SUGAR factory on the East River. Nice.