The world has been waiting far too long for something new by The Knife, but finally we have new music, a new video, and a new album to get excited about. Recently it was announced that their fourth album, Shaking The Habitual, will be out in April. Here’s the video for the first, brutal and wonderful, new single, “Full of Fire,” via Sweden’s SVT. Marit Östberg, born in Stokholm and now residing in Berlin, where she makes porn for feminists, directs the mini-film, which follows a cast of 16 across 10 minutes. When you’re full of fire, what’s the object you desire? is the song’s driving question, illustrated here with lonely yelps into the ocean, broken glass and bondage ties. At the end, there’s a guttural epilogue of bent Salt ‘N Pepa: Let’s talk about gender baby/ Let’s talk about you and me.
Clean Bandit - A&E
Clean Bandit are a group who match their classical training with fresh, bass-driven pop and hip hop leanings and soulful melodies, and it’s safe to say there aren’t many groups putting out music right now that could be said to be doing the same. Not to mention, the quartet’s brand new video, for the ludicrously fun track A&E, is unlikely to be like any other you’ve watched in recent memory. As gold-painted dancers make their way through the barren streets of London pursued by a cartoon metallic snake, driven by band members who pull intensely meaningful expressions over violins, a sub-plot features vocalists singing in the midst of a tropical greenhouse. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but great pop music often doesn’t – and something about this is great.
Collarbones - Hypothermia ft. Guerre
‘Hypothermia’ is the latest offering from Collarbones, a duo that’s separated by roughly 1403kms. Collaborating over the net, Marcus Whale (who lives in Sydney) and Travis Cook (who lives in Adelaide) traffic music that’s highly emotional yet detached, like professing love for someone over email.
Typically their sound takes cues from ’90s pop and R&B, but ‘Hypothermia’ is a mutated dance song. Featuring Sydney’s Guerre, it’s anchored by this incessant beat that never seems to stop - until, you know, it actually stops, but the consistent shuddering rhythm does put you on edge. Of course, that’s what Collarbones do: their music is melodious and sweet but it’s got a dark side, like walking through an empty park at midnight. Collarbones’ second album Die Young is out now on Two Bright Lakes .
Black Atlass - Castles
Whilst most of us celebrated the passing of Old Year’s by sharing kisses, and the clinking of champagne glasses, Black Atlass, stage name of 17 year old singer, songwriter and experimental producer Alex Fleming, was already beginning to churn the musical tides of 2012, when he released the visuals for his original composition, “Hills”.
Native to the eclectically romantic city of Montreal, and now temporary resident in London, Ontario, Atlass brings the Old World charm of his home and infuses it with stark synth landscapes and enormously empty drums not only creating a name for himself, but also eradicating any notions of a specific genre. Coupled with his dreamy, intensely reverbed vocals and inventive melodies, this young maverick has fashioned quite a unique project few will be prepared for. It’s something you have to hear to understand. His recently released project, entitled “The Black Atlass EP” is a six song teaser of things to come. Even in the relatively brief foray, lasting only 18 minutes, Altlass manages to create a plethora of different productions styles varying from the sample heavy banger “Ways”, to the ethereal keys found cascading amidst the synthesizer wails of the Paris Interlude.
One of the most captivating aspects of this young artist can only be appreciated once you have witnessed him performing his special brand of crooning in person. Armed only with awkward personability and his MPD/computer combo, this troubadour sings while re-producing his beats live, to slay any notions of disbelief in regards to his talent. He even takes the process one step further when he records his music and plays each song’s instrumental in real time drectly from his MPD. This means when you listen to his music, the instrumental backing you hear accompanying his vocals are not the result of quantized drum patterns and sequencing, but fined tuned precision and enviable musical ability.
Something great this way comes.
Twigs - Ache
If she wasn’t completely on the map before, she is now, especially with a release like this one. Twigs, a UK vocalist with a penchant for staying relatively unknown, is the ultra mysterious artist in question mostly because she somehow has indie, hip-hop, and electronic heads all clawing for more. Whether her stylish mysteriousness is by accident or by design — her Tumblr features nothing more than two of her own YouTube videos — it doesn’t change the fact that we’re thoroughly intrigued by someone that would think to put a black man in a mask, have him tweak out to not only smoke (and lyrics like “I ache for you”), then disappear again without a trace or so much as a Twitter username.
Bat For Lashes - Laura
After a three-year wait, British indie-pop artist Natasha Khan, who performs as Bat for Lashes, will release her third full-length of dark and dreamy music, titled The Haunted Man, in October. When Bat for Lashes’ Natasha Khan released 2009’s Two Suns, its lead single ”Daniel” was an ode to teenage first loves and naïveté, with all its hopefulness pinned onto Daniel LaRusso from The Karate Kid. On “Laura”, the first song offered from Bat for Lashes’ third LP, The Haunted Man, Khan offers her reassurances to a friend who’s been left behind, clinging to a lifestyle of parties and night flirtations when everyone else has grown up and settled down. The reassurances Khan offers this friend aren’t all desirable scenarios— what grown woman wants her name “tattooed on every boy’s skin”?— but they fit the contradiction that the titular dame embodies: wanting to cling to a scene that can’t last, trying to prolong the hot flash of lust into that eternal green light across the bay. When Khan near-pleads, “You’re more than a superstar,” it sounds like the kind of well-meaning but empty sentiment you might impart to a weeping friend— but the subtlety is that “Laura”, whoever she is, is worth much more than validation through nightlife notoriety. The Haunted Man drops October 15 (via Parlophone/EMI) in the U.K. and October 23 (via Capitol) in the U.S. Fans who pre-order the album get “Laura” as a free download immediately.
Purity Ring - Fineshrine
Purity Ring’s stellar Shrines single “Fineshrine” pairs cloud rap production with gross anatomy lyrics, and video director Young Replicant does that as literally (and sumptuously) as possible in this winning clip: bodies are bruised, sliced, and stitched up; planes are rolling through crystalline and clear skies; eyes are blue, faces are long and pensive, and art direction is clean-lined and surrealist. Nice color correction. Nice physiques. Tight edit.
L$D - Don’t Smoke my Blunt Bitch
If the name sounds unfamiliar to you, don’t feel out of the loop. L$D, short for Lesbian Satanic Druglords, is the collaboration of Grimes, Kreayshawn, Blood Diamonds, and Tragik. An unlikely team-up, which surprisingly comes together in a wonderful way. Their first single, Don’t Smoke My Blunt, Bitch has hit the net hand in hand with a clip. And if the video description provided is anything to go on, it took 10 minutes to record the song and less than an hour to make the clip, which really is no surprise. You can check out the video here; it’s one of the most bizarre things you’ll see today, but the hook of ‘I be that grimey motherfucker’ is so damn catchy!
XXYYXX (feat. Steffaloo) - Love Isn’t Made
Marcel Everett aka xxyyxx is blowing up at the moment, there’s no doubting that. With a collaboration with Giraffage and REID, it’s clear that 2012 is going to be his year. This track featuring the ever splendid vocals ofSteph Thompson, otherwise known as Steffaloo sees Everett upping his game with a minimal, repetitive beat underpinned by the delicate, sparsely sampled vocals. If we ever needed confirmation of just how far both these artists have come in such a short space of time, then Love Isn’t Made may well just be it.
Sleep Party People - Chin
Sleep Party People - the bedroom project of Brian Batz - is like one of those fairy tale gems that keep radiating magical colours when it’s dark, that actually grow bigger and brighter when nighttime falls. It’s something special and important and utterly beautiful. With the aid of an old drum machine, a piano and a guitar, a unique dreamlike universe arises. With traces of My Bloody Valentine shoegaze, Cocteau Twins mystique and Flaming Lips idiosyncracy the result is hard to define. But who cares? Sleep Party People’s eponymous debut album was received in home country Denmark with great acclaim and called “one of the strangest and most beautiful released in a long, long time”, “a hazy, dreamy and wondrous debut album” by two of the largest newspapers in the country.
The album is a collection of songs including both piano lullabies, instrumental songs and what seems like pop hits from a strange, better dimension.
