thatsmyjam

When I recently interviewed Brooklyn pop duo Chairlift about their new album, Something, Patrick Wimberly said that the record was a product of him and lead singer Caroline Polachek being "very in love-- not with each other," and "I Belong in Your Arms" is the pair's most straightforward expression of romance. Polachek's lyrics are both conversational and imbued with the sense of pop timelessness that, as she mentioned in our conversation, "a 10-year-old might hear coming out of the radio and think, 'Yeah! I love this!'"  The song's opening is fleet-footed, with the splashy drum-machine skips giving way to the kind of dreamy melodic structure that melts forever but never quite disappears. It's hard to top falling in love with a great pop song about falling in love.

[from Something; out now on Young Turks/Columbia]

Earlier this week, we posted "Brodermordet", the B-side of a forthcoming Sacred Bones-released single from War, a Danish punk band comprised of Iceage frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt and Sexdrome's Loke Rahbek, who co-runs the label Posh Isolation. War have another single on the way too, The Glass House Etiquette, which is a split release with Sweden's Lust for Youth. Here's War's contribution, "Somme, Maggio"; the thing's coming out on Avant! in March after seeing a limited cassette run last September. (via AwkwardSound)

On February 21, Virginia indie-pop crew Wild Nothing will follow up 2010's Golden Haze EP with a new single, "Nowhere", via Captured Tracks. The below title track features guest vocals from Twin Sister's Andrea Estella, and is the first time Wild Nothing mastermind Jack Tatum has recorded in a proper studio. The single will be backed by another new song, "Wait"; the band's currently working on their follow-up to 2010's Gemini LP with plans to release it this year.

MP3: Wild Nothing: "Nowhere"

"Walk With Me" is the second track to be let go from soft-focus indie-pop duo Memoryhouse's full-length debut, The Slideshow Effect, February 28 via Sub Pop. The LP follows up last year's re-recorded version of 2010's The Years EP; you might remember checking out fellow Slideshow Effect cut "The Kids Were Wrong" last month.

Here's the full version of "Bambi", a new song from Azealia Banks that served as the soundtrack for fashion line Mugler's recent show in Paris. Banks posted on Twitter that the track's beat was produced by Paul Epworth, who has worked with the likes of Adele, Cee Lo Green, and the Rapture, and noted that she will "extend the verse on 'Bambi.'" As we previously reported, she's working with Nicola Formichetti, Lady Gaga's stylist and creative director for Mugler, on a video for "Liquorice".

"Lathe Biosas" is the second track, and first "rocker," from Chicago/L.A. instrumental quartet Pelican's forthcoming four-song EP, Ataraxia/Taraxis, out April 10 via Southern Lord. On the EP, "Lathe" follows an incidental bit that mixes minimal electronics, Earth-style acoustic guitar, and chiming accents, a prelude that makes this crunchy opening liftoff feel especially dynamic.

Brandy’s voice has history with UK dance music, from El-B’s legendary X-Men remix of "Angel" to Blawan’s explosively popular "Getting Me Down" last year. The trend shows no signs of slowing: her 1995 single "Best Friend" has gotten a 2-step makeover from all-around UK superproducer DJ Q for FACT editor Tom Lea’s Local Action label, and the results are infectious. Where the original “Best Friend” was slow and cool-headed, DJ Q reshapes the vocal to slide down the slippery slopes of his skippy drums and fuzz-bass chords, squishing Brandy’s platonic platitudes into giddy gasps careening around corners. It’s strange how taking a song from 1994 and giving it an update that sounds consummately 1999 can sound so 2012, but that’s how UK bass operates these days.

[from the Brandy & Coke 12"; out 02/14/12 via Local Action]

Back in June of last year, we posted "Put Some Red on It", a cut from South African rapper/DJ Spoek Mathambo's EP of the same name on Sub Pop. On March 13, the label will put out Mathambo's proper sophomore full-length, Father Creeper. The janky, guitar-heavy "Let Them Talk" is the first track to be let go from that album.

Back in 2010, Sierra Leone-hailing musician Janka Nabay released Bubu King, showcasing his fast-paced "Bubu" style of dance music. Since then, he's teamed up with a band comprised of NYC-based musicians-- "The Bubu Gang"-- and he and they will release a new EP, An Letah, on March 20 via True Panther. Janka & the Bubu Gang will release a proper full-length on David Byrne's Luaka Bop label this June; until then, enjoy this An Letah cut.

The video for Phèdre's "In Decay" is an amalgam of strange imagery-- odd floral arrangements, empty lobster husks, headdresses, ultra-goopy goo poured all over faces and bodies-- filtered through a warped-VHS sheen. And the visual accompaniment fits the actual song like a glove. "In Decay" is a mutant hybrid of several different types of sounds-- of Montreal's freaked-out glam, the AM-radio baritone blur of Ariel Pink, and a dash of the cheekiness contained in Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love", for good measure-- but it's Phèdre's charming mash of these signifiers that make the song rise above mere pastiche.

MP3: Phèdre: "In Decay"

[from Phèdre; out 02/14/12 via Daps]

White Fence, the lo-fi paisley garage side project of Darker My Love's Tim Presley, released the solid Is Growing Faith last year on Woodsist. Presley has a double LP, Family Perfume, planned for release on that label for this year; the two albums will be released separately first, to be compiled together later on in the year. Vol. 1 is out April 3; this "edit" of "It Will Never Be" is the first single from that release.

MP3: White Fence: "It Will Never Be (Edit)"

"Faster, Harder" is our second taste from spooky San Francisco garage rockers Royal Baths' forthcoming sophomore effort, Better Luck Next Life, which is out February 7 via Kanine. The album follows 2010's Woodsist-released Litanies, which you should check out if you are really into the Velvet Underground's "The Gift". If "Faster, Harder" piques your interest enough that you want to hear another Better Luck Next Life cut, check out "Darling Divine" here.

MP3: Royal Baths: "Faster, Harder"

Here's another one from San Francisco rowdy post-punk noisemakers Terry Malts, whose debut LP, Killing Time, is out February 21 via Slumberland. You'll remember we posted "Tumble Down" last month; if you dug the excellent debut LP from fellow Bay Area bashers Weekend, Sports, "Nauseous" might just be up your alley.

MP3: Terry Malts: "Nauseous"

Oslo space-disco merrymaker diskJokke just released a new single on Splendour, "Now Dance". The blippy cut features a remix from producer Bright Light Bright Light; hopefully this is a signal of a proper follow-up to 2010's squishy En Tin Fid on the horizon.

Back in November of last year, when we posted East London guitar-pop outfit Weird Dreams' "Joan", we mentioned that the band were plotting their debut LP for release some time in February of 2012. That release date's been pushed back to April 2; the album's called Choreography, and it'll be put out on Tough Love. "666.66" isa kinda-evil-titled (but very nice sounding) cut from that release.

MP3: Weird Dreams: "666.66"

Primitive Weapons, a N.Y. quintet featuring Long Island hardcore scene vets who like plowing Deadguy and AmRep into dark sludge and doom, follow a self-titled 2011 7" with a frantic, but spacious debut LP, The Shadow Gallery, out March 13 on Prosthetic. "Quitters Anthem" hits the aforementioned departure points, while weaving in a dramatically gothed-out spoken bit and soaring psychedelic youth-crew vocals.

The self-titled debut LP from blurry dance duo Blondes is out February 7 via RVNG Intl. Here's a cut from that album, "Wine"; you'll remember we posted the Teengirl Fantasy remix of the song back in December of 2011.

MP3: Blondes: "Wine"

Around this time last year, we posted "World of Spirits", a stuttering electronic cut from Brooklyn producer Slava. On February 7, Mexican Summer and Software (the label run by Ford & Lopatin's Joel Ford and Daniel Lopatin) will release a new EP from Slava, Soft Control. The gently footwork-indebted "I've Got Feelings Too" is a cut from that release.

Front page photo by Erez Avissar

The latest issue of Yeti magazine (which is edited by Pitchfork contributor Mike McGonigal) was just recently released; in addition to featuring a cover designed by Carson Ellis, the issue comes with a four-song 7" that includes Grouper's cover of "Demona", from defunct Portland punks Dead Moon. Over at Yeti's website, that song (as well as others) is available for download right now. (via Yeti)

MP3: Grouper: "Demona (Dead Moon cover)"

Bristolian Matt Elliott is back working under his own name again, after a surprise return to his Third Eye Foundation guise on 2010's The Dark. "Dust Flesh and Bones", from his current album, The Broken Man, is so flushed with timeworn remorse that it feels siphoned from another age. This is a dusty, decrepit type of misery; you can almost hear the bones creaking in Elliott's fingers as he strums the acoustic lament on his guitar. The sooty vocal mannerisms are pitched so low they act like a lead weight crushing every fiber of his being, especially when he croons the central lyrical motif over and over: "This is how it feels to be alone". The nine-minute runtime takes in precision-tooled Leonard Cohen verses and Ennio Morricone-style spaghetti western touches, demonstrating Elliott's mastery at conveying a particularly barren type of sorrow.

[from The Broken Man; out now via Ici d'ailleurs]