radioSpin

RS VIDEO OF THE WEEK – #160
SUUNS – 2020

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

directed by Sabrina Rattè

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

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

directed by Jacqueline Castel

ASCETIC:
Self Initiation

Exploring themes of union and dissociation, impossibly forgotten moments, process become form, here’s the latest work from Melbourne-based Ascetic:. Drawn from a collective obsession with fringe philosophy and post-new-age consciousness, Self Initiation evokes the moods & spaces of 4AD’s early roster (Swans, Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins), with a nod to contemporaries The Soft Moon, Factory Floor and Portishead. Thick pulsing rhythms erupt into glorious, cascading conclusion: from narcissistic rants, to sickly crooned anthems. Recorded, mixed & mastered at Birdland by Lindsay Gravina & Rob Long (HTRK, New War, Rowland S. Howard, Hungry Ghosts), a strictly personal way to make the past collapse into now.

ARTIST: Ascetic:
TITLE: Self Initiation
LABEL: OSCL
RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2013
TIME: 46:25 min.
WEB: http://www.ascetic.com.au/
PURCHASE: special offer – NAME YOUR PRICE

01. Pharmacy [05:20]
02. We Are Not All Dead [05:16]
03. I Burn [03:28]
04. Religion [04:30]
05. Trankasham [05:02]
06. Before the Storm [06:02]
07. Uroboros (up from eden) [05:37]
08. A Day in the Fields [05:31]
09. Silver Circle [05:39]

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SAVAGES
Silence Yourself

Inspiration, not innovation, is what you should look for in Savages. You should take this four-girls London-based band, with their furious, high-velocity update of Joy Division, Simple Minds, British Sea Power, The Smashing Pumpkins, Einsturzende Neubauten, Bauhaus, The Birthday Party, Suede and so on over a thousand pallid boys who’ve managed, somehow, to divine an original sound at the end of post-modernism. Why? Because Silence Yourself is the manifestation of a formidable spirit, a sense that everything they do is done with great purity of intent, and a brilliant sex, life and death album of a kind rarely seen these days.

ARTIST: Savages
TITLE: Silence Yourself
LABEL: Matador
RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2013
TIME: 38:39 min.
WEB: http://savagesband.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. Shut Up [04:48]
02. I Am Here [03:20]
03. City’s Full [03:27]
04. Strife [03:57]
05. Waiting For A Sign [05:25]
06. Dead Nature [02:06]
07. She Will [03:27]
08. No Face [03:35]
09. Hit Me [01:41]
10. Husbands [02:50]
11. Marshal Dear [04:03]

PREVIEW: Savages – Husbands

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ADULT.
The Way Things Fall

It’s been six years since the last full-length output from Detroit’s ADULT., who took a much needed and deserved hiatus, but nevertheless the husband-and-wife electronic team have returned. Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus survived several cycles of fashion, but their love of electro and kohl-eyed techno-pop is pure, unwavering and indefatigable. The Way Things Fall is filled with spiky electroclash, sparse disco-punk torch songs, pleasant enough in their own right, even if things get better when the going gets weirder: something like like an imaginary meeting of Siouxsie Sioux and Kraftwerk, or The B52s broken down and fed to Arpanet, ora again when Nicola stands her finest, most indolent/insolent vocal performances to a tough chassis of Aux88 style electro-tech.

ARTIST: ADULT.
TITLE: The Way Things Fall
LABEL: Ghostly International
RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
TIME: 44:13 min.
WEB: http://www.adultperiod.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

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WE ARE WOLVES
La Mort Pop Club

The electro-rock trio We Are Wolves presents a still honest and uncatchable sound: a bit like celestial lightning hitting a sacred mountaintop. Their new album La Mort Pop Club channels indescribable electric fields of postpunk adrenaline. La Mort Pop Club confirms the tight relationship the band has formed with minimalism. It flirts with fuzzy garage-punk riffs, without putting aside their usual analog experimentation and melodic constructions. Emerging from an endless trance, the wolves are back on the prowl. Video games, sports people and others in need of heavy but catchy rock: these guys are here for you.

ARTIST: We Are Wolves
TITLE: La Mort Pop Club
LABEL: Dare to Care
RELEASE DATE: February 26, 2013
TIME: 34:53 min.
WEB: http://www.wearewolves.net/
PURCHASE: price – 10.98$

01. As the Moon Sets [03:17]
02. We Are Made of Fire (sisyphus) [02:50]
03. Night [03:04]
04. Sun [04:43]
05. Angel [02:55]
06. Moving Fast [03:39]
07. Snake in the Sand [03:24]
08. Mirror [02:40]
09. Voices [04:41]
10. Sudden Little Death [03:40]

PREVIEW: We Are Wolves – Mirror

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THE KVB
Immaterial Visions

Combining shoegaze guitars, minimal synth melodies, hypnotic drum machine rhythms and reverb drenched vocals, The KVB was first formed in 2010 as the solo project of Klaus Von Barrel. He was later joined by his girlfriend Kat Day, who added synthesizers and abstract visual elements. Their sound is dark, layered, complex and moody: an icy atmosphere juxtaposed by the warmth of distorted guitars. With this Immaterial Visions, the duo demonstrates that its palette can expand beyond the shoegaze tag they are regularly adorned with.

ARTIST: The KVB
TITLE: Immaterial Visions
LABEL: Minimal Wave / Cititrax
RELEASE DATE: April 27, 2013
TIME: 33:44 min.
WEB: http://thekvb.tumblr.com/
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 7.12$

01. Shadows [03:59]
02. Dayzed [03:59]
03. I Only See the Lights [05:24]
04. Lines [03:37]
05. Old Life [04:46]
06. For the Day [04:04]
07. Pray to the Light Machine [04:42]
08. Human [03:18]

PREVIEW: The KVB – Shadows

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GIRLS NAMES
The New Life

Belfast-based four-piece Girls Names are a singular proposition, both geographically and psychically removed from their contemporaries at home and abroad. Their second album The New Life is the sound of a band on the fringes striving to forge their own path, purposefully out of step (and time) with their surroundings. Weighed heavy with the grey landscapes of their hometown, The New Life is isolation laid bare, shot through with an undeterred sense of purpose and individuality.

ARTIST: Girls Names
TITLE: The New Life
LABEL: Slumberland
RELEASE DATE: February 26, 2013
TIME: 43:14 min.
WEB: http://www.myspace.com/girlsnames
PURCHASE: price – 11.99$

01. Portrait [00:50]
02. Pittura Infamante [04:55]
03. Drawing Lines [04:51]
04. Hypnotic Regression [03:49]
05. Occultation [05:15]
06. A Second Skin [04:05]
07. The Olympia [04:08]
08. Notion [02:54]
09. Projektion [04:50]
10. The New Life [07:37]

PREVIEW: Girls Names – Pittura Infamante

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DEPECHE MODE
Heaven

Brand, highly-awaited, new single for Depeche Mode, first extract from the upcoming Delta Machine. Heaven projects an intimately dark atmosphere with a fuzzily infectious bass lead and solemn piano echoes. Dave Gahan’s voice sounds as good as ever, especially with his uptick in emotion during the second verse and its grimy longing. The bass-guitar interplay during the aerial chorus is also excellent. Exclusively for RS readers, this maxi-bonus edition features the b-side All That’s Mine and four stunning remixes by Matthew Dear, Blawan, Owlle, and Steps to Heaven.

ARTIST: Depeche Mode
TITLE: Heaven
LABEL: Columbia
RELEASE DATE: February 1, 2013
TIME: 30:09 min.
WEB: special offer – ONLY 6.99$

01. Heaven [04:05]
02. All That’s Mine [03:22]

03. Heaven (owelle remix) [04:48]
04. Heaven (steps to heaven remix) [06:11]
05. Heaven (blawan remix) [05:44]
06. Heaven (matthew dear vs. audition vocal mix) [05:59]

Depeche Mode – All That’s Mine
Depeche Mode – Heaven (Blawan remix)

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NEW ORDER
Lost Sirens

What is this? Please, don’t be too excited. Only a UK vinyl LP pressing including bonus CD version: an eight track collection of songs originally recorded for the Waiting For the Sirens’ Call album but never released. Let’s start this brand new year with a truly eclectic mix of electronica and guitars in the way only New Order know how.

ARTIST: New Order
TITLE: Lost Sirens
LABEL: Rhino / WEA
RELEASE DATE: January 22, 2013
TIME: 38:26 min.
WEB: http://www.neworderonline.com/
PURCHASE: price – 17.99$

01. I’ll Stay With You [04:22]
02. Sugarcane [04:51]
03. Recoil [05:10]
04. Californian Grass [04:35]
05. Hellbent [04:28]
06. Shake It Up [05:24]
07. I’ve Got A Feeling [04:29]
08. I Told You So [05:07]

New Order – Hellbent

get it here.

AA.VV.
RS Top50 2012

So here we are again: just like every late December, it’s summing-up-time! It has been a really really hard work (but someone’s gotta do it, you know) to select the best albums of 2012. As usual, no claim to be exahustive round here: it’s a matter of musical taste, and surely we’ve missed some fantastic release (we pre-apologize for that), but we’ve tried, and here are the RS-TOP20 album between the ones featured on radioSpin.
Let us know what you think about it.

01. BAND OF SKULLS – Sweet Sour
02. ALT-J – An Awesome Wave
03. PINBACK – Information Retrieved
04. ARCHIVE – With Us Until You’re Dead
05. HUMAN DON’T BE ANGRY – Human don’t Be Angry
06. CHROMATICS – Kill For Love
07. DIVINE FITS – A Thing Called Divine Fits
08. REDRUM ALONE – De Redrum Natura
09. GRIZZLY BEARS – Shields
10. GIARDINI DI MIRÒ – Good Luck
11. Fairmont – Automaton
12. ORBITAL – Wonky
13. JASON LYTLE – Dept. of Disappearance
14. TWIN SHADOW – Confess
15. SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS – Ghostory
16. TINDERSTICKS – The Something Rain
17. SOULSAVERS – The Light the Dead See
18. BRETON – Other’s People Problems
19. CALEXICO – Algiers
20. SOUNDGARDEN – King Animal

Here below (and, of course, inside the concerning section) a slighlty mixed exclusive podcast (downloadable at the end of the post) with the previous tracks.
And then, in the end, like last year, the rest of the chart, from position 21 to 50.

21. CLARK – Iradelphic
22. THE SHINS – Port of Morrow
23. dEUS – Following Sea
24. YEASAYER – Fragrant World
25. TWILIGHT SAD – No One Can Ever Know
26. DRINK TO ME – S
27. DINOSAUR JR. – Silent Running
28. CAT POWER – Sun
29. SOFA SURFERS – Superluminal
30. SWANS – The Seer
31. METZ – Metz
32. LOTUS PLAZA – Spooky Action at a Distance
33. TY SEGALL – Twins
34. PAUL KALKBRENNER – Guten Tag
35. MARK LANEGAN – Blues Funeral
36. THE EYES IN THE HEAT – Program Me
37. PURITY RING – Shrines
38. SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO – UnPatterns
39. MIAOUX MIAOUX – Light of the North
40. ERRORS – New Relics
41. THE XX – Coexist
42. BETH ORTON – Sugaring Season
43. BAT FOR LASHES – The Haunted Man
44. LANA DEL REY – Born to Die
45. BLOC PARTY – Four
46. APOLLO 440 – The Future’s What It Used to Be
47. DEFTONES – Koi No Yokan
48. CRYSTAL CASTLES – III
49. SCUBA – Personality
50. SQUAREPUSHER – Ufabulum

AA.VV. selected by radioSpin – RS TOP20 2012

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THE TWILIGHT SAD
No One Can Ever Know (the remixes)

The Twilight Sad‘s third full-length, No One Can Ever Know, marked a sonic shift for the band. Freshly inspired by a listening diet of Cabaret Voltaire, Can, Magazine, Autechre, and Public Image Ltd., the band turn to a dark and synth-heavy sound. Now the band further immerses itself in dark electronic impulses with a set of remixes from contemporaries including Liars, Optimo, Com Truise, Tom Furse of The Horrors, Ambassadeurs, Breton and more. The remixes open up the dark, crackling originals and add a pulsating snake of rhythm and an intriguing obfuscation of angry static and twitch. It’s a perfect compliment to the seething originals and a new side of the band that many fans will find endlessly enthralling.

ARTIST: The Twilight Sad
TITLE: No One Can Ever Know (the remixes)
LABEL: FatCat
RELEASE DATE: November 20, 2012
TIME: 45:44 min.
WEB: http://www.amazon.com/

01. Sick (brokenchord remix 2) [03:35]
02. Sick (com truise remix) [04:40]
03. Nil (liars remix) [07:46]
04. Not Sleeping (the horrors remix) [06:56]
05. Alphabet (optimo instrumental remix) [06:38]
06. Not Sleeping (warsnare remix) [03:54]
07. Alphabet (ambassadeurs remix) [04:17]
08. Sick (brokenchord remix 2) [04:31]

The Twilight Sad – Sick (com truise remix)

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THE EYES IN THE HEAT
Program Me

A techno producer and an experimental artist. Dancefloor flavour and all out noise. Pose and poise, purpose and perfection. A.k.a. The Eyes in the Heat. Uniting the disparate talents of Oliver Ho and Zizi Kanaan, The Eyes in the Heat‘s output has been gradually grabbing attention over Europe and USA. In love with New York’s past, the band have the abrasive charm of No Wave but with a club sensibility hewn from DFA. Debut album Program Me brings all these flavours together: all jagged edges, faulty machinery and stuttering vocals. Humanity’s relationship with technology has rarely sounded so funky.

ARTIST: The Eyes in the Heat
TITLE: Program Me
LABEL: Kill the DJ
RELEASE DATE: September 17, 2012
TIME: 49:59 min.
WEB: http://www.myspace.com/theeyesintheheat
PURCHASE: http://www.amazon.com/

01. Yellow Walls [00:59]
02. Amateur [04:41]
03. The Upper Limits [03:36]
04. Think in Loops [04:45]
05. Signal [00:34]
06. Florida [04:49]
07. Water [03:51]
08. The Perfect Gun [04:20]
09. Next Stop [00:45]
10. Stare [04:37]
11. Blood [03:59]
12. Taken [06:16]
13. Good Morning Midnight [05:07]
14. Lost [01:40]

The Eyes in the Heat – Water

get it here.

ULTRAVOX
Brilliant

Brilliant is the first album of new material in three decades from the classic line-up of seminal electro pioneers Ultravox. Emerging from the new wave and electro scenes of the late 70’s, Ultravox fashioned a form of electronic rock music that delivered massive hits through the 1980’s. This new album, after 28 years, picks up where they left off: in grand boulevards, sweeping choruses and cod-classical keyboard fanfares.

ARTIST: Ultravox
TITLE: Brilliant
LABEL: EMI
RELEASE DATE: May 28, 2012
TIME: 52:55 min.
WEB: http://www.ultravox.org.uk/
PURCHASE: http://www.amazon.com/

01. Live [04:12]
02. Flow [04:24]
03. Brilliant [04:22]
04. Change [04:31]
05. Rise [04:05]
06. Remembering [03:43]
07. Hello [05:40]
08. One [04:43]
09. Fall [04:08]
10. Lie [04:36]
11. Satellite [03:59]
12. Contact [04:32]

Ultravox – Flow

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ACORN FALLING
Cabinet of Curiosities

Acorn Falling started in the winter 2009 by Lars Kivig. Initially it was thought as Lars’ solo project, but the creativity and ideas was evolving fast and he wanted new elements and instruments in the quickly growing track base. They say great things come to those who wait, and now we can proudly present the amazing and ambitious dark instrumental debut album from Acorn Falling, Cabinet of Curiosities, featuring members from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Thomas Wydler) and Current 93 (John Contreras). Experimental sound scapes with ambient, noise and electro-acoustic tendencies. A vibing desolate, but darly beautiful exploration of musical noise.

ARTIST: Acorn Falling
TITLE: Cabinet of Curiosities
LABEL: Vicious
RELEASE DATE: October 17, 2011
TIME: 39:59 min.
WEB: http://www.acornfalling.com/
PURCHASE: http://www.amazon.com/

01. Thermal Climb [04:18]
02. The Master Dive [06:26]
03. Reaching for Stars [05:23]
04. Coherence Abnormal [03:04]
05. Metachild Awakes [05:18]
06. Shattering Surface [04:27]
07. Lullaby for Saplings [05:05]
08. Sunrise [06:58]

Acorn Falling – Shattering Surface

removed by request