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RIP

I started a new blog! Today is the 3rd birthday of this one, and I thought it was time for a change. So head over here to find out more and follow if you like :)

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For the past month I have been absolutely obsessed with BUTTERCLOCK and especially this amazing wonderful fantastic song "HOLOGRAMS". I once saw her perform with oOoOO a few hundred yards from where I live and she was like a silver-haired angel that just stepped out of an anime (& she totally smiled at me, I swear!).

BUTTERCLOCK's First Prom EP was released a while ago via F A N T A S Y music and is definitely one of my favorite releases of 2013 so far!

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Did I ever mention that I love Cactus-Mouth? It's one of the first blogs I ever started following and one of very few I still regularly read (when time and mood swings allow). Ian, besides being one of the nicest people I know, has that rare gift to make you like a song before you even start listening. A few days ago, I don't remember exactly when, he wrote about Brandon Biondo's new project Shy Boys. It seemed ages ago since I listened to Walsh or COOLRUNNINGS, Brandon's other projects, and I remembered they were never really my thing, but I was curious nonetheless. Maybe it was the cover art; maybe i felt a strange connection because i'm a shy boy myself (not really a boy maybe, but hey, who still cares about the gender binary in 2013??). 

Anyways, I woke up the next day and there was a song playing in my head and after my cloudy daydreams had drifted away I realized that it was "Ride". There's something reassuring about it, like someone putting an arm around your shoulder and whispering "you'll be okay". By now, it has already become one of my favorite songs of this Spring and I can't wait to hear more.

You can get Ride / Julia on bandcamp, as well as a new track called "Something" that they released yesterday. Do it.

Shy Boys on bandcamp . soundcloud . facebook

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Yalls released this amazing EP yesterday called The Voice. At first I didn't want to listen to it because the cover art is yellow and I hate yellow, but I am glad I hit play because the first two tracks blew my mind. I hope that Dan doesn't make us wait too long for that upcoming album of his because this got me all excited!

Yalls on soundcloud . bandcamp . twitter . tumblr . facebook

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One of my favorite labels out there, Oddot, celebrates its second birthday today and put together a best of compilation for the occasion. It features tracks by Summer of Haze, Ev3nmorn, CROSSPARTY, Haapa, Sadwave and (((O))). So if you have never listened to any of Oddot's releases, this would be a good one to start with!

Also, guess who did the cover art? (๑′ᴗ‵๑)

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My brother once showed me a video of Carl Sagan explaining the Googolplex (the number 1010100) and it boggled my mind. No wonder I was intrigued when I got a submission on Valentine's day by a band called Googolplex and on top of that it was Korean! Was I hoping I would love it? Yes. Did I end up loving it? Yes!

The intro to Googolplex's newest song "Farewell" might not be perfect, but about forty seconds in, it bursts open and covers you in stardust, making you all shiny like a unicorn!

I also want to share with you another song of theirs called "Tonight". I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure it's a cover of a song by Korean singer-songwriter Song Chang-Sik (I googled it).

Googolplex - 이밤 (병사의 향수 - 송창식)

Find Googolplex on soundcloud . facebook . twitter . bandcamp

Also, here is Carl Sagan wearing a turtleneck:

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Frank Midnite, about whose project BRIGHT FUTURE I have written a couple of times before, is about to release two cassette tapes: FROM EARTH WITH BLOOD, due this Friday, and VIGILANTE THEMES, which will be out this Spring. I wanted to write about both of them, but realized it would be a lot better to let Frank himself say a couple of words. He said he wrote this down really quickly, but I think it's perfect:

"Vigilante Themes is a cinematic album of droney laboratory concoctions. A combo of super hero and super villain.. creating the vigilante.. or the dark hero. There's a lot of repetition and drawn out duration in the pieces.. concentrating on tone, mood, and natural progressions. It's a nod to 70s spy films, blaxploitation films, sci-fi, horror, car chase films, and comic books. The album is experimental so there's a lot of beat surgery and working with field recordings and experimenting with different techniques... A life soundtrack best for driving, the train, walking through the city or just grooving at home."

"From Earth With Blood is the first official album and the butterfly to Blue//Black's cocoon. [It's] definitely connected to Vigilante Themes, but in a more defeated yet romantic and optimistic sense. These recordings are like answering machine messages.. and bedroom anthems... Everything's raw, imperfect... and doesn't really care about the "game" of art.. It's an album that embraces being Human, being from the Earth, and the emotional suffering and pain that some of us deal with daily... our bleedings."

Both tapes can be pre-ordered on the Nite Thief bandcamp page.

BRIGHT FUTURE on soundcloud . twitter . facebook . bandcamp

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I was just lying on my bed drooling on my pillow and daydreaming about things that make me happy (i.e. not reality) and it made me feel pretty much like this track, "Crystalline".

Unlikely Futures submitted their music to me quite a while ago but I haven't been able to decide wether to post about them until now. There were a few tracks that I really liked, but the others just didn't do it for me. Then I realized they don't have to.

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While going through some tracks in my soundcloud stream, I came across "Yeah" by MARCiN SKY, a name that didn't ring a bell until I found out it was the same person as Cryst▲llized. You might remember his breathtaking track "Yatta", that caught the attention of one of my favorite blogs one year ago. The tracks I have missed since then are everything as great as the ones before. Go check them out!

MARCiN SKY on soundcloud . facebook

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One of the EPs that I listened to the most last year was Parisian's Those Emotions Ran High. It was perfect to listen to while lying in bed, pretending to be someone else. Ian was so nice to send me "still in love with" a few months ago, a track that would be on his new EP titled Daul Kim, which is now set to be released on February 18th through Push & Run. I love the subtle rhythm of the track and how it calms me down (though in a sad way). Definitely one of the EPs I'm most excited for this year!

Parisian on soundcloud . facebook . twitter . tumblr

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Not a month ago I wrote a guest post for my favorite Dutch blog Over Muziek. I chose to write about about (((O))), Nikita Vasiliev from Belarus, who produces music tagged funeral rave. I was blown away by his EP How To Look Beautiful and have been listening to it regularly, often on repeat, up until now. No wonder I got excited when I saw that his label Oddot put out his newest release Forever I Am today.

All songs on the album, according to the label's website, are not just songs, but stories that are part of a conceptual book. Stories of helplessness, frustration and conscious loneliness. 

(((O))) - #drunkfuck

(((O))) - Ancient Blood

Vasiliev continues to surprise me, even though my expectations were set really high after his last release. His sounds are so powerful and fascinating, seductive even, and seem to pick you up and submerge you into unknown universes. Don't miss out on this.

Get it for free here.

(((O))) on soundcloud . tumblr . oddot

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Stressful times require music to completely lose yourself in. Thankfully, Slowwkid produces exactly that. Melancholy vocals drift along effortlessly with a combination of synths and mostly delicate percussion. I haven't had the time to listen to all 86(!) tracks on soundcloud, but I'm sure that there are a lot more treasures to be found than these two. Go dig.

Slowwkid on soundcloud . facebook 

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Taquwami, one of my favorite artists at the moment, tweets some really wonderful suggestions now and then, and this track "U" by fellow Japanese producer Winona Hyper is one of them. Their music is very similar in a way, so if you do like Taquwami, you are destined to like this as well. It's all there: vocal samples floating over fluttering beats and of course lots and lots of hi-hats. There are only three tracks to be discovered on soundcloud right now, since the project only just came into existence, but hopefully there are many more to come.

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I have been aware of Mr. Kitty's existence for quite a while now, yet I only really started listening to his music a couple of days ago. Somehow, I had a very different idea of what it sounded like, one that didn't fit with what I was listening to now. Mr. Kitty's newest release EMOTIONAL / PHYSICAL is filled with wonderful pop songs; the ones that make you want to dance and cry at the same time. Cry, because the lyrics communicate stories of unrequited or lost love, like in "Amnesia":

"As I grow old, I will forget you. As time moves on, I won't remember."

Mr. Kitty - Amnesia

EMOTIONAL / PHYSICAL was released last week via Aural Sects and you can grab it for free here. All previous Mr. Kitty releases can be found on bandcamp.

Mr. Kitty on soundcloud . facebook . twitter . tumblr . bandcamp

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Best of 2012 in K-Pop

I was not going to make a list of my favorite albums this year, because I realized that I hardly listened to any, but then I thought to myself: "Hey, I've listened to a lot of k-pop!". So here is my list (in no particular order) of favorite releases in k-pop:

G-Dragon - One of a Kind

This is the album that I was looking forward to hearing the most in 2012. Ever since I heard that G-dragon was busy creating a follow-up to his solo debut Heartbreaker from 2009, I could hardly think about anything else. Even though the first time I heard "One of a Kind" was on the Philadelphia airport WiFi, which was pretty bad, it left a lasting impression. The EP is filled with great tracks, my favorites being "One of a Kind", "Missing You" and "Light It Up (ft. Tablo and Dok2)". In my opinion, G-Dragon is the strongest personality in k-pop today and I'm sure we can expect more great things from him in the future.

Big Bang - (Still) Alive

When 2012 started off, B2ST still was my favorite k-pop group. That was until Big Bang changed the game when they started releasing songs from their new album Alive in February. There was "Blue" and "Bad Boy" and then… "Fantastic Baby". It's without a doubt my favorite video of the year.

Block B - Blockbuster

Block B only debuted last year, but they have already delivered a lot of powerful music. They have a rebellious air about them, which definitely reflects in their 2012 releases. "NalinA" from Welcome to the Block and "Nillili Mambo" from their full length Blockbuster are great examples of this. But apart from those playful tracks, they also have ballads, funky songs and just plain pop songs that are all incredibly catchy.

B.A.P - NO MERCY

My favorite group to debut this year is B.A.P. I found a lot of new groups to be boring and only a few stood out and brought something new to the scene. B.A.P is mostly influenced by hip hop, resulting in very powerful singles in which the group's rappers are really important, but their EPs have ballads as well.

Also:

2NE1 - "I Love You"

2NE1, by far my favorite girl group, only released one song this year, but it kicks so much ass. I can't wait for the new album!

SHINee - "Sherlock (Clue + Note)"

This one gets my award for best choreography in a k-pop video this year. And funkiest song.

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Six months after releasing his latest single "Land Locked", Air Tycoon gives us a new EP and completely free too! Autumn Drifts is more great beats and samples and a lot of emotion, what more do you want?

"Tesselate Me" is my personal favorite. Stream or download the EP here to find out what's yours.

Air Tycoon on soundcloud . bandcamp . facebook . tumblr . twitter 

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Lately I have hardly gotten excited about music, until a couple of days ago when I saw that The Deuces Wild was about to release his first EP. The Deuces Wild is Peter Karlsson, one half of Called Understandable Souls, a Swedish duo that I wrote about roughly two years ago. In the meantime, I have been keeping track of what both of them have been doing, noticing that Peter had started a solo project, sporadically releasing tracks, most of which have disappeared again.

At least one of those made it to the The Feel EP and I am so glad it did. When I first heard "Castin' Lights" I was blown away and couldn't get enough of it. The sounds, the rhythm, the emotions that it managed to evoke... all of it seemed perfect to me. And it still does.

The experimental attitude towards sounds and rhythm and the overall feel of the music is very similar to Called Understandable Soul's On Up EP, but I feel like this release goes deeper, like it reaches down to a more personal level. This is definitely audible in "What Is Wild", a very fragile track for which The Deuces Wild collaborated with Swedish duo Foil.

The Feel is out through Expansions Collective as of today. You can listen to it here. Peter told me that a full length record is on the way as well, which will be released by a label based in his hometown Luleå, probably by the end of this year. 

The Deuces Wild on soundcloud . facebook . bandcamp . flickr