Electronic
Grimes Announces Visions 10th Anniversary Vinyl Reissue
It’s hard to believe Grimes has been around long enough to get the reissue treatment, but as her breakthrough album Visions turns 10, a new vinyl package is on the way. Today the singer announced Vinyl Me, Please would reissue Visions and make the album its February Essentials Record of the Month. Before she dated Elon Musk and became the self-appointed spokesperson for artificial intelligence, Grimes (born Claire Boucher) was a relatively unknown Canadian artist recording experimental synth pop. On January 31st, 2012, however, she released her third studio album, Visions, on renowned indie label 4AD. With the help of single/perfect song “Oblivion,” it proved the first step in cementing her place as an endlessly fascinating public figure. Grimes looked back on Visions with c...
FKA twigs’ 10 Best Songs
FKA twigs, born Tahliah Barnett, made a name for herself as a proponent of the avant garde. She’s a true multi-hyphenate — she’s a vocalist, she writes her music, she’s an incredible dancer, and a large part of her music video repertoire is self-directed. Regardless of the type of track she releases, FKA twigs has managed to find a way to ensure that a listener can immediately identify a piece of her work. She’s not afraid to explore genres and sounds, and her discography so far could be described as R&B, electronic, hyperpop, and trippy — and all of those categorizations would be true. This Friday (January 14th), she’ll be releasing a new collection of music in the form of a mixtape called CAPRISONGS. To celebrate, we’ve rounded up ten of her best tracks so far. Advertisement Check ou...
Burial Unveils ANTIDAWN EP: Stream
Burial has released his new EP ANTIDAWN via Hyperdub. Stream it below on Apple Music and Spotify. The five-song collection contains lengthy ambient tracks titled “Strange Neighbourhood,” “Shadow Paradise,” “New Love,” “Upstairs Flat,” and, of course, “Antidawn” — two of which clock in at over 10 minutes apiece. “ANTIDAWN reduces Burial’s music to just the vapours,” read a statement from the British musician’s record label ahead of the EP’s release. “The record explores an interzone between dislocated, patchwork songwriting and eerie, open-world game space ambience. In the resulting no man’s land, lyrics take precedence over song, lonely phrases colour the haze, a stark and fragmented structure makes time slow down.” Related Video Hyperdub went on to explain that Burial is “tell[ing] a stor...
Röyksopp Share New Song “(Nothing But) Ashes…”: Stream
Way back in 2014, Röyksopp announced that their fifth studio album, The Inevitable End, would be their last, but the Norwegian electronic duo have still made good on their promise to continue putting out music without the confines of an LP format. Over the weekend, Röyksopp returned with the new track “(Nothing But) Ashes…,” along with an eerie music video. “(Nothing But) Ashes…” is a wordless song that pairs droning, ambient synths with a gentle piano melody. Its music video focuses on a character wearing a helmet that looks like if Daft Punk had a steampunk phase. This anonymous character then embarks on a journey to a muggy forest, where they uncover a curious knife-like object. It’s hard to make heads or tails of any storyline here, but considering the video’s subtitle “Profound M...
Grimes Says She’s Changing Her “Day Job” After Next Album
It’s hard to tell if Grimes’ priorities lie in music or Internet trolling these days, but she’s apparently switching them up soon. The experimental pop artist has announced she will be changing her “day job” once she releases her upcoming album, Book 1, citing the toxicity of celebrity culture. “Celebrity culture is suffocating a f,” Grimes tweeted. “I’m not quitting music, but def changing my main day job after BOOK 1. Music industry feels old and tired, reliant on archaic systems.” Separately, Grimes recently teased a collaboration with The Weeknd on her official Discord server. As Stereogum points out, the team-up makes sense, since her recent song “Player of Games” was co-produced by the R&B singer’s frequent collaborator Illangelo and featured a music video directed...
Chino Moreno’s ††† (Crosses) Unveil Cover of Q Lazzarus’ “Goodbye Horses”: Stream
A couple of days after revealing they signed a worldwide deal with Warner Records, ††† (Crosses) unveiled a new cover of the Q Lazzarus song “Goodbye Horses.” The duo, which consists of singer Chino Moreno (Deftones, Team Sleep) and multi-instrumentalist Shaun Lopez (Far), also revealed that new music will arrive in spring 2022. As previously reported, Lopez took to Instagram to share the news of the new record deal, writing, “Very happy to announce that @crossesmusic recently signed a worldwide deal with @warnerrecords. Looking forward to working with such an amazing crew. Hi fives to the bro @chinowmoreno, we did it.” The cover of “Goodbye Horses” features Moreno delivering clean vocals over an electronic instrumental, staying true to the new wave vibes of the 1988 original. Advertisemen...
Chino Moreno’s ††† (Crosses) Ink Deal With Warner Records Ahead of New Album
††† (Crosses), the electronic project of Deftones singer Chino Moreno and multi-instrumentalist Shaun Lopez (of the post-hardcore band Far), are currently working on new music. They’ve now found a label to release the upcoming album after inking a deal with Warner Records. The signing comes after the duo teased that they were in the studio together recording new material back in November. The last music we heard from the group was a one-off 2020 cover of Cause & Effect’s “The Beginning of the End” following six years of inactivity. Lopez shared the label news on Instagram, giving shoutouts to the project’s inner circle: “Very happy to announce that @crossesmusic recently signed a worldwide deal with @warnerrecords. Looking forward to working with such an amazing crew. Hi fives to the b...
The LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special Aims for Nostalgia to Mixed Effect: Recap
Even after COVID forced LCD Soundsystem to cancel the remaining three shows of their 20-night Brooklyn Steel residency, the band hasn’t given up on trying to keep things jolly. On December 22nd, James Murphy and co. brought the holiday cheer to Amazon Prime Video with their part comedy, part concert film Christmas special, appropriately titled The LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special. Directed by Eric Wareheim (of Tim & Eric fame), the hour-long special aims to capture nostalgia twofold. It opens with a parody of a ’90s sitcom titled “All My Friends,” in which Wareheim stands in as Murphy in a fictionalized version of LCD Soundsystem. With Macaulay Culkin portraying drummer Pat Mahoney, the band fumbles through assembling the perfect setlist for the night’s gig. Spanning their 2005 de...
Thom Yorke Shares Sixth Sonos Radio Mix: Stream
Thom Yorke has returned with the sixth edition of his ongoing Sonos radio show, “In the Absence Thereof.” Check out the playlist below. “In the Absence Thereof…v6” is a particularly cinematic mix. Whereas Yorke’s last playlist featured the familiar sounds of Tom Waits and Madlib, this installment veers toward the instrumental. Chiming percussion dominates Mark Fell’s opening song “INTRA-3,” while droning keys swell in Terry Riley’s “Across the Lake of the Ancient World” and Arvo Pärt’s “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten.” Yorke’s latest mix isn’t all instrumental, however. UK rappers Space Afrika and Blackhaine spit over a glitchy beat in “B£E,” and The Bug’s “How bout dat” sees FFSYTHO rap over a slow, dark crawl. Yorke’s son, Noah, even appears on the playlist with “Trying Too H...
Brian Eno on NFTs: “Now Artists Can Become Little Capitalist Assholes as Well”
Add Brian Eno to your list of stars charmingly unimpressed with NFTs. When asked about today’s hottest economic scam in an interview with The Crypto Syllabus, the legendary musician said he wouldn’t be dabbling in the trend any time soon. “I’ve been approached several times to ‘make an NFT.’ So far nothing has convinced me that there is anything worth making in that arena,” Eno said. “‘Worth making’ for me implies bringing something into existence that adds value to the world, not just to a bank account. If I had primarily wanted to make money I would have had a different career as a different kind of person. I probably wouldn’t have chosen to be an artist. NFTs seem to me just a way for artists to get a little piece of the action from global capitalism, our own cute little version of...
TNGHT Unveil New Single “Brick Figures”: Stream
Electronic duo TNGHT have released the new song “Brick Figures,” as well as its accompanying music video. Listen to the track below. The production team comprised of Hudson Mohawke and Lunice released “Brick Figures” as part of Glasgow label LuckyMe’s annual Advent Calendar charity compilation, which also features songs from Jacques Greene, Cid Rim, HIRA, and Seiho. Industrial sound effects make up the beat of the instrumental song, which Lunice described in a statement as “the kind of music Lego characters would be listening to on their own time.” Rather than Lego characters, however, two naked, distorted figures convulse under a strobe light in the song’s music video, directed by Dan Streit and Christopher Rutledge. Advertisement Related Video As what sounds like a power drill scree...
Chelsea Cutler on the Commodification of Mental Illness
Listen via: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | Stitcher | Google | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Singer-songwriter Chelsea Cutler talks depression and the public perception of mental illness on the latest episode of Going There with Dr. Mike. Related Video The When I Close My Eyes musician describes how she can feel a pervasive sense of fatigue, and often can lack a deeper sense of satisfaction or fulfillment in her life. As a response, she describes craving what she calls “emotional neutrality,” essentially being able to remove emotions from decision making. Many who struggle with mental illnesses such as mood or anxiety disorders often feel like their depression or anxiety heavily influences their ...
