Aurgasm

psychedelic rock // jazz

How many dazzling songs do you know that feature a harpsichord? “Golden Brown” throws one right at you and carries it in a waltzing 3/4 time signature. Well known from the Snatch soundtrack, it’s a psychedelic carnival loop of a rock song. The Better Daze cover comes off the delicious Ubiquity Rewind album and delivers a jazz rendition of the classic. A loose doublebass partners with a strummin’ guitar and cooks up a tasty pot of golden brown sonic sound.
The first for the uninitiated. The second for the jazz guitar twist.

The Stranglers – Golden Brown
Better Daze – Golden Brown

funk // soul

The Bamboos are probably the finest funk band of the era. Sometimes infused with serious female vocal talent like Alice Russell, but often rocking a solid instrumental groove that needs no adornment, they got you covered; whether you’re a dancer or a head-nodder. Australian-based but signed to the UK’s Tru-Thoughts: their new single is firey hot. True story: this track has had my mom dancing daily since she heard it! Feel this.

A hook you cannot refuse.
The Bamboos – On The Sly

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country-folk // singer-songwriter

Venturing from home in Nashville, Audie‘s sound grew dear as she followed charms winding their way through mountain trails and Parisian boulevards before encountering musical kin in Portland. With helpful newfound friends, a tickle of entrancing hymnals was then culled from her memory; forming a delicate, haunting echo in your heart that asks where you’ve been. Were you calling out quietly in the night for a friend? Or swinging in tire swings on dwindling summer days… an occasional ring to your ear of someone you knew and should maybe say hello to. Do clairvoyant clarinets introduce another scene? Stringing you along as hammers unlock dissonance and banjitars herald kind nudges anent upright bass. Jeering ghosts fleshed out with hindsight; twilight’s mist dispersed upon reason; her songs usher in an elusive, captivating treasure to collect and hold tender forever.

An audio darling.
Audie Darling – Warn Out Shoe
Audie Darling – Little Bird
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cut-n-paste acoustic folk // electri-experi-indie

“skippy, choppy, and destructed…“ “blipworld / fakegrass / speedblues / chamberclick / eccentrock / country&eastern / glitch post-anything music with samples, closely followed by ‘food band’.“ “quick surges of crowd noise, vibraphone, guitar and bits of violin.“ “they manage to squeeze every last ounce of beauty from these commonplace sounds and let them carry the songs here.“ “their brilliant reassembly of tone into tune simultaneously created a genre and perfected it.“ “also the sounds you use seem to be all fragments, like “found objects” really.“ “We love beautiful surfaces that flow and pull us in, but we also love depth and nuance and invention…
“We are always trying to find that balance between emotional accessibility and musical innovation.“

The Books – An Animated Description Of Mr. Maps
The Books – Enjoy Your Worries, You May Never Have Them Again
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modern son // guaracha

Musician and composer Pedro Luis Ferrer has been an active Cuban musician since 1965. In his native Cuba he is famous as a musical innovator as well as a sharp social critic and a master of the guaracha musical style. He combines the influences of dynamic Cuban sounds, including Cuban son, guaracha-style songs with his own lyrical poetry. Ferrer’s latest record Tangible (2011) sparkles with bursts of horns, Latin percussion, earthy guitar and and the tres, inviting your feet to move.

Vibrant spirit.
Pedro Luis Ferrer – Tangible
Pedro Luis Ferrer – Zarandeando
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jazz // rock

Aaron Parks was born in Seattle “” though he currently lives in Brooklyn with the rest of his taste-making hipster brethren “” and you can almost hear the city in his music. The pitter-patter of rain in the cymbals, the grey swoop of fog in the guitar, and the occasional glimpse of sun in the piano; “Nemesis” is a Mt Rainier in the haze, and “Roadside Distractions” is a fish flying through the air at Pike Place Market. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it all. But either way it’s a nifty album “” take a listen and see for yourself.

A city’s worth of sounds.
Aaron Parks – Nemesis
Aaron Parks – Roadside Distraction
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english folk // pop

Keston Cobblers Club delivers a joyous blend of traditional-feeling folk melodies, toe-tapping rhythms and a slightly quirky vibe. While comparisons to the early Noah and the Whale, Mumford & Sons and Beirut are inevitable, the British quintet’s take on English folk revival is unique and refreshing. The album opener, “The Children Who Wear Socks On Their Heads”, A Scene of Plenty (2013), leads with frenetic accordion and percussion is a high-energy foot-stomping musical extravaganza. “You-Go”, taken from the band’s debut album One, For Words (2012), is a delightful pop-folk gem. Don’t miss the band’s take on Vampire Weekend’s “Ya Hey!” with some vintage animation.

Infectiously joyful.
Keston Cobblers Club – The Children Who Wear Socks On Their Heads
Keston Cobblers Club – You-Go
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cabaret // klezmer

Fusing the strains of the centuries-old traditions, modern and the experimental, Israeli collective Panic Ensemble creates an intensely dramatic, cabaret-infused sound and appealing theatrical atmosphere. Playing a wide range of instruments, such as viola, accordion, contrabass, keyboards and percussion, the eight musicians of Panic Ensemble mix the expressive Klezmer melodies, massive rock energy and jazz influences. In their recently released self-titled album, Panic Ensemble weave their original arrangements with electronic subtleties and powerful, partly based on professional literature lyrics.

Full of poetic intensity and beauty.
Panic Ensemble – Spring In Your Heart
Panic Ensemble – Jewish Woman
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danish pop // vocal electronica

Following the recent international success of Oh Land and Fallulah, it’s safe to say that Danish songstresses take the current electronic-infused pop tendencies beyond the too common synths-plus-strings clichè. Copenhagen-based Hannah Schneider’s sophomore album Me Vs. I (2012) combines classic singer-songwriter tradition, perfect pop sensibility and Nordic electronic soundscapes. In the standout track “Me Vs. I”, featured below, Hannah’s mesmerizing vocals are emphasized by endless layers of electronic sounds and sample-collages.

Mesmerizing Nordic soundscapes.

Hannah Schneider – Me Vs. I

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instrumental hip-hop // idm

The music of LA native Sahy Uhns a.k.a. Carl Madison Burgin is a unique blend of West Coast hip-hop, IDM and ambient influenced soundscapes, all topped off with some glitchy beats, organic rhythms and obscure psychedelic beauty. The opening track, a personal favorite, of his recently released album An Intolerant Disdain of Underlings (2011), “Montebello Postpartum”, delivers a dreamy ambient vibe and a gentle midtempo beat. “Anticipation Of The Night, which is named after a 1958 film by Stan Brakhage, showcases Sahy Uhns’ outstanding sound design skills.

Mesmerizing sound collage.
Sahy Uhns – Montebello Postpartum
Sahy Uhns – Anticipation of the Night
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