radioSpin

EMPIRE OF THE SUN
Ice On the Dune

Pretty weird duo Empire of the Sun (consisting of Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore) arrived back in 2009 surrounded by industry hype and big promises and they didn’t fail to deliver one of the year’s strongest sleeper debuts and in turn gain themselves a cult following. Luckily for that loyal fanbase, their second outing Ice On the Dune picks up neatly from where they left us. Rather than more of the same, this is an expansion on what made their breakout so captivating, and for that they should clinch the wider appreciation they so very much deserve.

ARTIST: Empire of the Sun
TITLE: Ice On the Dunes
LABEL: Astralwerks
RELEASE DATE: June 18, 2013
TIME: 43:02 min.
WEB: http://empireofthesun.com/
PURCHASE: price – 10.00$

01. Lux [01:26]
02. DNA [03:55]
03. Alive [03:25]
04. Concert Pitch [03:41]
05. Ice On the Dune [03:26]
06. Awakening [03:46]
07. I’ll Be Around [04:31]
08. Old Favours [03:55]
09. Celebrate [03:19]
10. Surround Sound [03:18]
11. Disarm [03:52]
12. Keep a Watch [04:28]

PREVIEW: Empire of the Sun – Alive

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CAMERA OBSCURA
Desire Lines

Camera Obscura’s joy is always filtered through a smudged, foggy lens. It’s not that the Glaswegian indie-pop band is ashamed of the infectious melodies and girl-group harmonies that define its songs, or that they’re afraid to slather their compositions with rich string flourishes or upbeat percussion. It’s that they never allow themselves to get too excited or clear-eyed. And that’s not a bad thing. Said in another way, with so many retro and neo-soul acts crowding the scene, it’s always refreshing to hear the soft restraint in Tracyanne Campbell’s vocals filling your lazy morning. Desire Lines is here to do this.

ARTIST: Camera Obscura
TITLE: Desire Lines
LABEL: 4AD
RELEASE DATE: June 4, 2013
TIME: 47:06 min.
WEB: http://www.camera-obscura.net/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. Intro [00:31]
02. This Is Love (feels alright) [03:32]
03. Troublemaker [04:28]
04. William’s Heart [04:08]
05. New Year’s Resolution [05:36]
06. Do It Again [03:19]
07. Cri Du Coeur [04:14]
08. Every Weekday [04:11]
09. Fifth in Line to the Throne [04:11]
10. I Missed Your Party [04:28]
11. Break It to You Gently [03:49]
12. Desire Lines [04:22]

PREVIEW: Camera Obscura – Troublemaker

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RS VIDEO OF THE WEEK – #161
NOSAJ THING – Eclipse / Blue

ARTIST: Nosaj Thing (feat. Kazu Makino)
TITLE: Eclipse / Blue
ALBUM: Home
WEB: YouTube

directed by Daito Manabe

THE VIOLET ARRAY
Pulling with the Tides

Ryan Carroll (Saturna, Ten Million Lights), Scott Barber and Erin McBride started playing music together in high school and their chemistry shows. Add Erin’s husband Mike Stone to the mix and the concoction is downright magical. Combining elements of dreamy shoegaze and 60′s surf-pop, The Violet Array create music that sounds both nostalgic and futuristic. With this Pulling with the Tides, The Violet Array have created a stunning masterpiece of lush harmonies, beautiful melodies and epic soundscapes. Close your eyes and you will breathe in the arid desert aire, feel the spray of the pounding surf and soar over deepest canyons. Open your ears, stare up at the stars through the eyes of The Violet Array and enjoy their sort of magic trick: stopping time right before yout heart disappears over the horizon, carrying you into believing a feeling can last forever.

ARTIST: The Violet Array
TITLE: Pulling with the Tides
LABEL: self-released
RELEASE DATE: December 12, 2012
TIME: 56:39 min.
WEB: http://www.thevioletarray.com/
PURCHASE: price – 8.99$

01. Icicle Melts [04:25]
02. Kona [05:02]
03. The Longing and the Waiting [03:02]
04. Hungry for Your Touch [04:39]
05. The Golden Wave [05:41]
06. Death Valley Daydream [04:19]
07. Reunion [05:26]
08. Ride the Wave [00:45]
09. The Wound Runs Deep [03:45]
10. In Green [04:06]
11. Sideways 8 [05:56]
12. One with the Ocean [04:46]
13. Sunshine Slowdown [04:52]

PREVIEW: The Violet Array – Kona

removed by request

PRIMAL SCREAM
More Light

An epic album, More Light has the spirit and the quest of album that comes from a time when music was mind expanding and believed that it could blow your mind and change the world. Maybe, to some, that’s retro and out of sync with these times, a modern time when indie doesn’t mean independent and rock’n'roll has become a blipvert in a cookery show, but the real truth is that More Light is a trip and an adventure, a place to get lost in and deals with the world without getting dragged down by it, full of firebrand rock n roll politics and fervoured calls to revolutionary soul power. If Screamadelica was the up record of the end of the times innocence and the noise trilogy of the nineties albums was the hangover, punctuated by the other intermittent records of strutting rock’n'roll, More Light is Primal Scream finding their experimental soul in a beautiful, lush trip that goes to some exotic and strange places but never loses the listener: it’s always a pop record, if you believe in the possibilities of pop.

ARTIST: Primal Scream
TITLE: More Light (deluxe edition)
LABEL: First National / Ignition
RELEASE DATE: May 21, 2013
TIME: 1:47:26 min.
WEB: http://www.primalscream.net/
PURCHASE: price – 12.53$

01. 2013 [09:02]
02. River of Pain [07:00]
03. Culturecide [04:37]
04. Hit Void [04:14]
05. Tenement Kid [04:49]
06. Invisible City [04:44]
07. Goodbye Johnny [03:32]
08. Sideman [03:57]
09. Elimination Blues [05:49]
10. Turn Each Other Inside Out [04:38]
11. Relativity [07:31]
12. Walking with the Beast [04:00]
13. It’s Alright, It’s OK [05:11]
14. I Want You [03:44]
15. City Slang [05:10]

01. Nothing Is Real / Nothing Is Unreal [05:08]
02. Requiem fot the Russian Tea Rooms [03:15]
03. Running Out of Time [02:38]
04. Worm Tamer [05:37]
05. Theme From More Light [02:30]
06. 2013 (andrew weatherall remix) [08:20]

PREVIEW: Primal Scream – I Want You

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EMIKA
DVA

Bristol-born, Berlin-based musician Emika has been operating on the margins of electronic music for some time, coming close to making a real breakthrough with the dark dubstep influenced pop of her well-regarded self-titled debut. Her second album DVA carries on the sound established on Emika. It sees the classically trained musician and producer operating from an even wider sonic palette to create a follow up with more colour and dynamics.
DVA is a progression from what has gone before and it nevertheless represents Emika as a fascinating artist with immeasurable promise.

ARTIST: Emika
TITLE: DVA
LABEL: Ninja Tune
RELEASE DATE: June 11, 2013
TIME: 60:44 min.
WEB: http://www.emika.co.uk/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. Hush (interlude) [01:51]
02. Young Minds [03:30]
03. She Beats [03:58]
04. Filters [04:02]
05. After the Fall [04:48]
06. Sing to Me [04:13]
07. Dem Worlds [04:08]
08. Primary Colours [04:08]
09. Sleep with my Enemies [04:48]
10. Wicked Game [03:56]
11. Fight for Your Love [03:50]
12. Mouth to Mouth [06:28]
13. Searching [04:09]
14. Centuries [03:30]
15. Criminal Gift [03:25]

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GOLD & YOUTH
Beyond Wilderness

Hailing from Vancouver, the four-piece group, Gold & Youth, have kicked off their career with Beyond Wilderness and from the hearing of things, it becomes apparent that the hype and acclaim was, and is, all rightfully beheld. The album had a healthy host of talent working behind the scenes: starting from the production by Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, New Pornographers, Destroyer), to the mixing by Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Interpol, Grizzly Bear) and Damian Taylor (Björk, Robyn, Arcade Fire). With such creative powerhouses backing this project, it would seem that Beyond Wilderness would be a recipe for success, and in the end, it certainly is.

ARTIST: Gold & Youth
TITLE: Beyond Wilderness
LABEL: Arts & Crafts
RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
TIME: 43:18 min.
WEB: http://goldandyouth.tumblr.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.49$

01. City of Quartz [04:45]
02. Little Wild Love [04:09]
03. Quarters [04:16]
04. Tan Lines [02:55]
05. Cut Lip [03:31]
06. Jewel [04:33]
07. Come to Admire [04:11]
08. Daylight Colours [03:40]
09. Young Blood [03:27]
10. Palm Villas [03:15]
11. Time to Kill [04:36]

PREVIEW: Gold & Youth – Cut Lip

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SIGUR RÓS
Kveikur

Kveikur is Sigur Rós‘ first release on XL Recordings worldwide. The record, which was self-produced by the three members of the band: Jón Þór Birgisson, Georg Holm and Orri Páll Dýrason, sees the band shifting towards a more direct, aggressive sound. Sigur Rós, now recently diminished to a three-piece with the exit of longtime keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson, are swiftly hurtling into their twentieth year together. Kveikur sees them potentially delve into a different territory for the first time. It’s plagued by shadows, complex textures and frantic will-o’-the-wisp rhythms that dart and weave through the music. It’s unsettling, chaotic, vengeful, astounding, invigorating and forces you to feel a plethora of cacophonous emotions concurrently. It’s their loudest record. It’s their darkest record.
If it will be the best, it’s up to you.

ARTIST: Sigur Rós
TITLE: Kveikur
LABEL: XL Recordings
RELEASE DATE: June 18, 2013
TIME: 48:13 min.
WEB: http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. Brennisteinn [07:45]
02. Hrafntinna [06:23]
03. Ísjaki [05:03]
04. Yfirborð [04:19]
05. Stormur [04:55]
06. Kveikur [05:55]
07. Rafstraumur [04:58]
08. Bláþráður [05:12]
09. Var [03:44]

PREVIEW: Sigur Rós – Yfirborð

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BOARDS OF CANADA
Tomorrow’s Harvest

The idolized and enigmatic Scottish duo is back. After considerable speculation by their rabid fan base (not to mention the media following every step of the way), Boards of Canada have revealed their new album Tomorrow’s Harvest entrusting its launch to a small viral campaign: a couple of teasers (one of them directed by Neil Krug) and to the controlled spread of six vinyl during the same day, filled with encrypted codes, already matter for collectors. Inside Tomorrow’s Harvest, every aspect has been carefully played, expertly placed within the context of Boards of Canada‘s career which refusing to become introverted. Stylistically, the album veers away from the treated guitars of The Campfire Headphase and moves back to the pure electronics of Music Has the Right to Children. The much discussed post-apocalyptic themes are apparent throughout, explicitly through the song titles, implicitly through the sounds of grinding machinery and lifeless wind. Not only an album: a universe which will surely take much more than one listen to fully explore.

ARTIST: Boards of Canada
TITLE: Tomorrow’s Harvest
LABEL: Warp
RELEASE DATE: June 11, 2013
TIME: 60:55 min.
WEB: http://www.boardsofcanada.com/
PURCHASE: price – 10.99$

01. Gemini [02:56]
02. Reach for the Dead [04:49]
03. White Cyclosa [03:14]
04. Jacquard Causeway [06:32]
05. Telepath [01:32]
06. Cold Earth [03:44]
07. Trasmisiones Ferox [02:16]
08. Sick Times [04:22]
09. Collapse [02:44]
10. Palace Posy [04:06]
11. Split Your Infinities [04:29]
12. Uritual [02:00]
13. Nothing Is Real [03:52]
14. Sundown [02:16]
15. New Seeds [05:40]
16. Come to Dust [04:07]
17. Semena Mertvykh [03:16]

PREVIEW: Boards of Canada – Cold Earth

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RS VIDEO OF THE WEEK – #160
SUUNS – 2020

ARTIST: Suuns
TITLE: 2020
ALBUM: Images du Futur
WEB: YouTube

directed by Sabrina Rattè

IAMAMIWHOAMI
Bounty

iamamiwhoami is a daughter of the internet. So we guess we should thank the internet. But that’s a long-boring matter. Let’s jump to the conclusions by listening to this new Bounty, which, actually, isn’t so new. Bounty is the prologue to last year’s Kin, and brings together in one place/object the previously released multimedia series that had surfaced before Kin was released as iamamiwhoami’s first album proper. Between 2010 and 2012, beneath a cloak of anonymity and all kinds of mystery, iamamiwhoami released what could best be described as music videos onto YouTube. Anticipation built as a debut album came ever closer to a release, and an equal amount of frustration brewed as it was continually pushed back. Eventually, Kin was released: an album of previously unreleased material, well received by just about everybody. That’s it: in a few words, Bounty is a sort of official release for what came before. The music, then. It’s unmistakably Scandinavian: think of Fever Ray, and then track several shades paler, less oppressive and prettier. iamamiwhoami is just as weird, but it’s a different weirdness. Bounty is wonderfully idiosyncratic: the whole thing holds together in an indefinable way that ultimately comes down to iamamiwhoami sounding far more like themselves than anybody else. But the music, even if truly able to stand for itself, in this case maybe isn’t enough: Bounty is an album designed for listenwatching. So listenwatch.

ARTIST: iamamiwhoami
TITLE: Bounty
LABEL: To Whom It May Concern
RELEASE DATE: June 3, 2013
TIME: 43:09 min.
WEB: http://towhomitmayconcern.cc/
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 8.91$

01. B [03:31]
02. O [06:39]
03. U-1 [02:41]
04. U-2 [03:43]
05. N [04:37]
06. T [04:41]
07. Y [06:39]
08. ; John [06:41]
09. Clump [04:27]

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JON HOPKINS
Immunity

If you came to love Jon Hopkins from laid-back electro releases, then be warned: this is not more of the same. Immunity might be the most dance-focused album Hopkins has ever produced. It bursts with techno beats that jump wildly from deep and dark to bright and euphoric. As an album, Immunity takes you everywhere, while, track by track, you have your pick: from something to get everyone dancing, to the soundtrack of the sun rising over a perfect night. But beware: Immunity is a powerful, multi-faceted beast, packed with the most aggressively dancefloor-focused music Hopkins has ever made.

ARTIST: Jon Hopkins
TITLE: Immunity
LABEL: Domino
RELEASE DATE: June 4, 2013
TIME: 60:05 min.
WEB: http://www.jonhopkins.co.uk/
PURCHASE: price – 9.49$

01. We Disappear [04:50]
02. Open Eye Signal [07:49]
03. Breathe This Air [05:30]
04. Collider [09:22]
05. Abandon Window [04:58]
06. Form by Firelight [05:45]
07. Sun Harmonics [11:54]
08. Immunity [09:57]

PREVIEW: Jon Hopkins – We Disappear

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AUSTRA
Olympia

After three years of non-stop touring following the release of 2010′s debut Feel It Break, when it came time to record Olympia, Austra had evolved into a collaborative effort between its six members and presents a quantum evolution in the Toronto-based band’s sound, structure and style. Produced by Austra with additional production by Mike Haliechuk, the album also features vocal production by Damian Taylor (Björk, The Killers), engineering by Bill Skibbe and Leon Taheny and was mixed by Tom Elmhirst (Adele, Erasure, Hot Chip).

ARTIST: Austra
TITLE: Olympia
LABEL: Domino
RELEASE DATE: June 18, 2013
TIME: 45:56 min.
WEB: http://www.austramusic.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. What We Done? [05:01]
02. Forgive Me [03:20]
03. Painful Like [04:00]
04. Sleep [04:33]
05. Home [04:16]
06. Fire [04:43]
07. I Don’t Care (i’m a man) [01:11]
08. We Become [04:23]
09. Reconcile [03:32]
10. Annie (oh muse, you) [03:48]
11. You Changed My Life [03:12]
12. Hurt Me Now [03:57]

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EDITORS
The Weight of Your Love

It’s been nearly four years since Editors’ last record, the patchy, electronic-driven In This Light & On This Evening. Since then, guitarist Chris Urbanowicz has departed, taking his wonderfully unique and distinctive tones that defined the band’s first two records with him. That’s way The Weight of Your Love is a big test for the band, and it could have gone may ways: a return to the dark-led gloom of the older tracks? A continuation of the rockish electronics of the latest? In reality, Editors have gone big, really big, even without being ashamed of putting into the new album some stadium-rock chouruses that (although that formla seems somewhat incompatible with Tom Smith‘s booming, low voice) it strikingly works a great effect. And just Smith’s instantly recognisable tone is the only thing that makes this still Editors, and it’s almost a wonder that, with the departure of Urbanowicz and such a long period of silence, they come back with new material so changed as this still with that name, and not under another guise. Anyway, this all fades into insignificance though, as what we have here is a giant, honest rock album.

ARTIST: Editors
TITLE: The Weight of Your Love
LABEL: Play It Again Sam / PIAS
RELEASE DATE: July 9, 2013
TIME: 47:37 min.
WEB: http://www.editorsofficial.com/
PURCHASE: price – 26.89$

01. The Weight [04:33]
02. Sugar [04:17]
03. A Ton of Love [03:58]
04. What Is That Thing Called Love? [04:12]
05. Honesty [04:49]
06. Nothing [05:15]
07. Formaldehyde [03:06]
08. Hyena [03:39]
09. Two Headed Spider [04:31]
10. The Phone Book [04:31]
11. Bird of Prey [04:46]

PREVIEW: Editors – Sugar

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FILTER
The Sun Comes Out Tonight

The Sun Comes Out Tonight heralds the return of Bob Marlette in the roles of producer and co-writer, and marks the introduction of Filter‘s newest addition, co-writer, and guitarist, Jonny Radtke. Radtke’s rapturous vocals and elegantly furious guitar playing mesh expertly with Filter‘s ambiance, helping the band redefining the genre that they made popular with a subsonic sound that is someway new, while at the same time groundbreaking. It’s safe to say that Richard Patrick & CO. have returned with an album that is heavier than it predecessor, but at the same time projects a sound and presence that is refreshingly superb.

ARTIST: Filter
TITLE: The Sun Comes Out Tonight
LABEL: Wind-Up
RELEASE DATE: April 6, 2013
TIME: 45:43 min.
WEB: http://www.officialfilter.com/
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 7.99$

01. We Hate It When You Get What You Want [03:48]
02. What Do You Say [03:48]
03. Surprise [04:19]
04. Watch the Sun Come Out Tonight [04:05]
05. It’s Got to Be Right Now [03:19]
06. This Finger’s For You [03:52]
07. Self Inflicted [03:18]
08. First You Break It [03:36]
09. Burn It [04:21]
10. Take That Knife Out of My Back [03:41]
11. It’s My Time [03:25]
12. It’s Just You [04:11]

PREVIEW: Filter – Surprise

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RS VIDEO OF THE WEEK – #159
THE SOFT MOON – Insides

ARTIST: The Soft Moon
TITLE: Insides
ALBUM: Zeros
WEB: YouTube

directed by Jacqueline Castel