#figureight

[thenewobjective]

Chaz Knapp & Mariel Roberts ~ Setting Fire to These Dark Times

The title seems especially relevant: Setting Fire to These Dark Times.  The phrase indicates a desire to burn the present era and start anew.  Other titles are tongue-in-cheek: “Flat Earth Drune for Non-Believers” pokes fun at conspiracy theorists, while “Warmth in Isolation” suggests a positive side to the pandemic.  Even if our interpretations are a bit off, there’s no mistaking the darkness of…

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[recommendedlisten]

Video: Bernice - “It’s Me, Robin”

“It’s Me, Robin”, the second single from Toronto art-pop quintet Bernice’s sophomore effort Eau De Bonjourno, is a conversation with the self many of us are probably having every single second we are alone with ourselves. In our heads, we only have one small desire, and that is to exist unconditionally as is without our achievements or our titles defining us. Still, we are at odds with what the world around us has cultured into our perceptions of one another.

As vocalist Robin Dann attempts to pull apart these cobbled string of thoughts, the band’s sound around her begins to spill onto blank canvas colors, patterns and designs shaped by saxophonic lifts, percussive fits, and airy synths. “We’re living a in a disaster / We choose to see only what we want to,” she sings. “I heard you you heard we’re divided / It’s not as straight-forward as having a career.” The problem is visible, yet the answers to obtaining a pure existence continue to elude us.

Sonia Beckwith directed the listen’s surreal visuals.

Bernice’s Eau De Bonjourno will be released March 5th on Television Explosion / figureight.

[recommendedlisten]

Bernice - “Groove Elation”

Photo courtesy of Colin Medley

If you made it to this point in 2020, that in itself is a tiny victory, and we should all be rooting for one another to keep on moving in our best directions despite each of the respective hardships that have slowed us in our paths. “Groove Elation”, the lead single from Bernice’s forthcoming sophomore outing Eau De Bonjourno, is a celebration of that, introspecting on the self’s ability to be here right now no matter the shape it finds you in.

The Toronto art-pop quintet’s sound matches the amorphous thinking of leading chanteuse Robin Dann throughout, with a freeform R&B soundscape budding under a shifting synthetic DNA strand. “Maybe we’re all evolving / Maybe my time is enough,” she sings. There’s peace to be found within Bernice’s “Groove”, if only we take the moment to feel it within.

Eau De Bonjourno by bernice

Bernice’s Eau De Bonjourno will be released March 5th on Television Explosion / figureight.

[musicmapglobal]

Gyda Valtysdóttir

As a site that prides itself on celebrating new music, it’s pretty likely that this is the oldest composition we’ve ever featured on MusicMap. In fact it definitely is, as Gyda Valtysdóttir’s latest work is a recording of ‘Seikilos Epitaph’, the oldest complete composition in the world. (Dating from between 200 BC and AD 100, the lyrics and notation were discovered on a tombstone near Aydın, Turkey, formerly the Hellenistic town Tralles – cheers Wikipedia.)

Gyda Valtysdóttir, the Icelandic cellist and composer known for her work with the acclaimed post-rock group múm, has produced a reverent but exploratory interpretation, threading together drones, pipes and glimmering vocals. It’s one of nine pieces on Valtysdóttir’s solo album Epicycle, which receives its international release on figureight records this October and includes versions of pieces by Sergei Prokofiev, Harry Partch and more…

Photo: Antje Taiga Jandrig

[thebittersweetdistractor]

ÚLFUR   “Fovea”

New York-based but born in Luxembourg and raised in Iceland and California, Úlfur, is a songwriter and composer also known for his collaborations with Jónsi (of Sigur Rós) and Ólöf Arnalds. His debut album, “Arborescence”, will be released next month and today he’s sharing the first single, titled “Fovea”. The song is a melancholic and extremely immersive chamber pop gem built around gentle acoustic guitars and intricate string arrangements with Úlfur’s delicate vocals entrancing the listener all the way through. Listen above.

“Arborescence” is out this fall on figureight.

[jettacar]

I posted a comment on @figureight's newest video and it was featured and it's so out of context

why must i do the things i do

[intricateritualist]

cookies and cream froyo, jasmine tea, strawberry tea, strawberry iced tea (:p)

i just answered some of these in my last post BUT 

cookies and cream froyo: 3 things you can do to make me automatically like you

honestly there's really nothing a person can do to MAKE me like them (and it's risky to try because if i feel like someone's trying to manipulate me [regardless of whether they actually are or not] i will be pissed) but three traits that i find appealing in people (sometimes to the exclusion of good sense) 

engage in in-depth analysis and discussion of media of any kind; criticise honestly; don't do the thing i sometimes do unless i catch myself where you soften your stance for fear of going against someone you respect/like/want to like you; take things apart and look at how they could be made better (this includes work that i have created!) 

give me small/cheap presents that made them think of me (or chocolate. chocolate is also good. or any food. FEED ME.)

take my weird and often contradictory neuroses in stride and don't make me feel stupid/faulty/incompetent because of them

[intricateritualist]

You as a villain? - A dominatrix witch.

\o/ winning