carefully curated
new paltz duo diet cig drop their debut ep, over easy, next month via father/daughter records, and they’ve roared back into focus with their latest single. “harvard” is a two-minute bitter middle finger directed at a nameless ex-boyfriend, culminating in alex luciano screaming “fuck your ivy league sweater / you know i was better” repeatedly until the song exhausts itself. take a listen to the track below.
detroit’s gosh pith are back with their third standalone offering, “window,” a sultry track that slinks with ease thanks to its liquid bass line. the duo’s fresh take on r&b is especially augmented here by heavily delayed vocals and jangly guitar chords perched perfectly atop the mix. we’re waiting eagerly for an ep or a full-length from these guys. check out “window” below.
2014 was sam ray’s year; in between a ricky eat acid full-length and ep, he found time to covertly release a new julia brown record and to resurrect a reincarnation of teen suicide. but it’s that first moniker that has excited and mystified the most, an artistic entity that can pull off footwork and post-classical soundscapes with equal aplomb. ray shows no signs of slowing down his output as ricky eat acid, and will release “context” b/w “walking around a garden at night” on january 20th via canvasclub. the a-side runs the gamut of ray’s musical pursuits as of late, navigating through white noise to busy synths all the way to a frenetic busdriver vocal sample inflated with helium. take a listen to “context” below.
t-pain sparked renewed interest around the internet last week with his tiny desk concert for npr, where he performed a handful of his hits sans auto-tune. as jayson greene pointed out in an on-point article for wondering sound, t-pain is often the butt of musical jokes despite his heavy influence on the current state of rap and r&b, but he may finally be charting a course towards redemption. along with that tiny desk concert (which is downright breathtaking, by the way), t-pain is gearing up to release his fifth studio album, stoicville, and he recently shared its title track. “stoicville” finds t-pain rapping uninterrupted for almost six minutes straight, building tension for almost half of the song before assuredly dropping the beat. it’s a far cry from his auto-tuned crooning, but “stoicville” is a stark reminder of the tremendous talent t-pain has bottled up. take a listen below.
warren hildebrand spent the better part of the past three years working on the material that would become ontario gothic, so it stands to reason that he would have a few other sketches of foxes in fiction songs that didn’t quite fit the album. enter “october (for j),” a sprawling six-minute amalgamation of samples that hildebrand completed and premiered tuesday night on newtown radio. the song is aesthetically more in line with the “hospital district”/”static cult” single released back in 2011, and comes days after hildebrand hinted at returning to a more experimental approach to his music as foxes in fiction. regardless of future trajectory, “october (for j)” is a wonderful addition to hildebrand’s emotive canon. take a listen below.
less than a week after delivering the goods on “hollow body weather,” nashville-via-des moines duo field division is back with “of lives we’ve never known.” the single, taken from their impending debut ep reverie state, is comparatively subdued, with folk and trancelike qualities battling for dominance in its beginning and a slinking, mysterious bass line that gradually envelops the strumming of an acoustic guitar. but field division once again showcase their propensity for crafting admirable chorus structures, this time employing a choral blend of voices and shimmering guitar chords to open up the back half of the song. this is not a band to sleep on. take a listen to “of lives we’ve never known” below, courtesy of field division’s soundcloud page.
angel olsen’s latest album is just a youthful seven months old, but burn your fire for no witness is already slated for a deluxe treatment. the reissue will hit november 18th via jagjaguwar – just in time for those year-end best-of lists – and will feature five additional songs. olsen and her label have shared “all right now,” one of those aforementioned bonus tracks, a sparsely arranged effort that allows olsen’s voice plenty of space to breathe, both literally and metaphorically. take a listen below.
pity sex stuck out in the crowd of emo-inspired bands that garnered extra attention last year, often putting shoegaze and noise-rock elements on a higher pedestal than their mid-1990s downtrodden idols. the ann arbor quarter released a split with adventures today via run for cover records; each band contributed a cover along with a new original song, and pity sex offered up “acid reflex,” a noisy, mid-tempo number in the vein of last year’s feast of love. the track premiered over at wondering sound yesterday, but now you can stream it right here as well. take a listen.
slow magic has been unbelievably consistent this summer, releasing a new track from his upcoming full-length how to run away at the end of each month. august is no exception; today the mysterious producer has shared “waited 4 u,” his brightest and most upbeat single yet. those adjectives are relative, however, as “waited 4 u” still hinges ever so slightly on slow magic’s penchant for eerie, trembling melodies. how to run away is out via downtown records september 9th. stream “waited 4 u” below.
tennis is set to return with their long-awaited third album, ritual in repeat, on september 9th. it’s the indie-pop outfit’s first full-length release since early 2012 and seems to follow in the footsteps of last year’s small sound ep, if the early singles are any indication. the band dropped a second preview of their new record yesterday in the form of “i’m callin’,” an up-tempo, disco-beat powered number that demands your complete attention. take a listen to the song below, courtesy of the band’s soundcloud page.
Dimestore Saints 