Experimental
Panda Bear and Sonic Boom Announce Collaborative Album Reset, Share “Go On”: Stream
Panda Bear, founding member of Animal Collective, and Sonic Boom, founding member of Spaceman 3, have announced the new collaborative album, Reset. It’s out August 12th, and as a preview, the experimental pop auteurs have shared lead single “Go On.” According to a statement, Bear and Boom (real names Noah Lennox and Peter Kember) met over MySpace in the mid-aughts, after the former thanked Spaceman 3 in the liner notes of his solo album, Person Pitch. They’ve been collaborating since Panda Bear’s 2011 album Tomboy, and six years ago Kember moved to Portugal, in part to be closer to Lennox. Work on Reset began around the same time as the first wave of pandemic lockdowns, with Sonic Boom pulling loops out of his vinyl collection while Panda Bear added singi...
Noga Erez Drops New Single “Nails”: Stream
After signing to Neon Gold/Atlantic Records, Israeli pop singer Noga Erez is back with a disorienting new song called “Nails.” Listen to the single below. Heavy with boosted bass and clipped, disjointed vocals, “Nails” tackles the complicated consequences of jealousy with an appropriately complex soundtrack. Even more accurately, ASMR heads can look forward to the sound of Erez tapping her own nails on different surfaces, lending the track some extra percussion. “‘Nails’ is a song about jealousy, and how being jealous of people, in this particular case another woman, makes you idealize that person in a very weird and dark way,” Erez said in a statement. In the accompanying music video, the Israeli pop star sits on a bus before captivating her fellow passengers with a performance of the ele...
Empress Of Announces Save Me EP, Shares “Dance for You”: Stream
Lorely Rodriguez, otherwise known as Empress Of, has revealed her upcoming EP, Save Me, out June 24th, and shared the new single “Dance for You” and its accompanying video. Watch it below. The latest offering from Rodriguez was developed over several writing trips in 2021 that included Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas and Los Angeles before finally landing in Minneapolis to hammer out the rest with longtime collaborator and producer BJ Burton (Charli XCX, Bon Iver). The drifting, nomadic nature of Save Me was all part of a concerted effort by Rodriguez: As she claimed in a statement, “one of the biggest key things for me making music is being out of my comfort zone.” “When you’re out of your comfort zone, that’s when innovation happens,” she shared. “I went around renting these spaces, trave...
Grimes Joins Russian Band IC3PEAK on New Single “Last Day / Новый день”: Stream
IC3PEAK have dropped their new track, “Last Day / Новый день,” featuring an assist from Grimes. Stream the track below. “God is dead/ I killed him/ Death is a choice/ And you will never catch me making it,” the pop artist chants in between singing in Russian and screaming on the glitchy song. The track appears on the electronic act’s latest album, Kiss of Death, and translates to “Last Day / New Day” in English. The LP, IC3PEAK’s sixth, also features collaborations with Bring Me the Horizon’s Oli Sykes (“VAMPIR”) and Australian trap metal singer Kim Dracula (“Червь / Worm”). Advertisement Related Video Given the ongoing war in Ukraine, It’s particularly worth noting that IC3PEAK have a long history of speaking out against Russian president Vladimir Putin, and have most recently issued stat...
“Whale Song” Pays Tribute to the World’s Oceans With Stunning Experimental Electronica
Innovative sound design, a string orchestra and eclectic sampling come together in “Whale Song,” an ode to the ocean by Los Angeles-based producers Carina Nour and Gibs. The grippingly textured “Whale Song” channels the tides with an easy ebb and flow of minimalistic melodic house, classical and ambient inspirations. Scene-setting sonics are as grounding as they are disorienting: muted, thumping rhythms; bright, crackling samples; billowing bass tones. It’s as though you are actually underwater, guided through the depths by tropical drums, a rippling melody, and distorted audio samples. Clocking in at nearly seven minutes, “Whale Song” is brought to an almost overwhelming peak by an orchestral string section, before finally settling to a close...
ME REX Announce Plesiosaur EP, Share “Jupiter Pluvius”: Stream
English quartet ME REX have announced their latest EP Plesiosaur, out June 17th via Big Scary Monsters, and shared its lead single “Jupiter Pluvius.” Stream it below. Plesiosaur’s prehistoric title aligns with the band’s prolific collection dating back to 2016’s Woolly Mammoth EP and continuing through the dual Triceratops/Stegosaurus EP in 2020 and February’s 4-track Pterodactyl EP. They took a detour for the 52-track, shuffle-friendly experimental triumph Megabear in 2021 and despite the project’s renewed nominal connections, ME REX is clearly primed to move into their next era. Pre-orders for Plesiosaur are ongoing. It will be available as a double-EP vinyl with Pterodactyl that is expected to ship out at the same time as its digital release. Check out the artwork and tracklist bel...
PC Music Volume 3 Set to Feature Charli XCX, Caroline Polachek, Clairo, and More
PC Music has announced its third compilation album. Out on May 13th, the double LP includes tracks by Charli XCX, Caroline Polachek, Clairo, and more. PC Music Volume 3 collects hits from the record label between 2018 and 2021, as well as a share of “upcoming, unreleased, and unreleasable music.” Charli XCX reunites with frequent collaborator (and PC Music founder) A.G. Cook on “Xcxoplex,” a reworking of his 2020 track “Xxoplex” as first heard on his 2021 remix album Apple vs. 7G. Meanwhile Polachek’s 2018 collab with felicita, “marzipan,” also makes the cut as does Clairo’s single with Danny L Harle, “Blue Angel,” also released in 2018. Other artists appearing on the two-disc album include Hannah Diamond (“Invisible” and “Staring at the Ceiling”), Tommy Cash (“Pussy Money Weed”), umru and...
The Body and OAA Announce Collaborative Album, Share “Barren of Joy” Featuring Full of Hell’s Dylan Walker: Stream
The Body and producer OAA, aka AJ Wilson, have announced their debut collaborative album, Enemy of Love, out February 18th. With just over a month until the release date, they’ve also shared the lead single “Barren of Joy” featuring Full of Hell vocalist Dylan Walker. Year in and year out, The Body continue to offer up beguiling and adventurous heavy music that defies categorization. The duo of Lee Buford and Chip King frequently collaborate with like-minded artists to achieve their vision, having worked with Full of Hell, BIG|BRAVE, Uniform, and many more. For their latest collab, Buford and King teamed up with OAA, who had previously remixed a track for The Body’s 20th anniversary Remixed LP in 2019. True to its stark title, “Barren of Joy” is an uncompromising blast of free-form no...
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...
Squid Announce 2022 Tour Dates
UK post punks Squid came out with a bang this year, with their debut LP Bright Green Field being named one of the best albums of 2021. Now, they’re ready to do a victory lap. Today the band announced a run of tour dates for 2022. Before Ollie Judge, Louis Borlase, Arthur Leadbetter, Laurie Nankivell, and Anton Pearson hit North America in March, they’ll play a run of UK shows in January. The band’s 13-date jaunt across the pond takes them from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast, with stops in Canada in between. Then, they head back over to Europe in June to hit the festival circuit, before playing Primavera Sound’s inaugural Los Angeles festival in September. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. local time — get yours through Ticketmaster. Related Video Back in March, Squid share...
Björk Announce Orchestral Shows in Miami
Björk will play a pair of special orchestral shows at Miami’s Arsht Center next February. Taking place on February 13th and 16th, the concerts will feature Björk performing acoustic orchestral arrangements of her work, with the accompaniment of conductor Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason. Tickets go on sale Friday, December 10th via the Arsht Center’s website. Björk previously teamed up with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra for a series of orchestral shows held at the Harpa Reykjavík Concert Hall in the fall. She’ll also play orchestral shows in Europe next summer. Related Video Additionally, Björk recently announced early 2022 stagings of her “Cornucopia” show in Los Angeles and San Francisco. “Cornucopia,” which made its debut in New York City in 2019, is described by Björk as her “most ela...
100 gecs Unveil New Song “mememe”: Stream
100 gecs are back with the new song “mememe,” out now via Big Beat Records. The single offers the first look at Dylan Brady and Laura Les’ follow up to 1000 gecs, their 2019 hodgepodge debut that blew up on TikTok and brought hyperpop (and Brady’s coveted producer’s touch) to a greater audience. In the grand (albeit short) tradition of the duo, “mememe” blows out pop melodies, as heavy bass and guitar crunch meld with autotuned vocals and glitchy production. “You’ll never really know anything about me,” goes Brady’s refrain, which amps up the song’s angsty pop-punk feel. Watch the song’s accompanying video below. 100 gecs have teased their sophomore album, 10,000 gecs, on social media, but the record hasn’t yet received a proper release date. Since 1000 gecs, the duo have remixed the ...
