Video: Free Energy, “Free Energy”

Free Energy’s “Free Energy” from their upcoming album Stuck On Nuthin on DFA is now for sale on iTunes and for free right here at what we’re assuming is a lower bitrate? Either way, learn to love this band because in an age when new rock bands (a bunch of which we love) seem obsessed with zero fidelity, these semi-grubby dudes who never seem to leave their practice space in Philly (we shot them there for their Gen F in the new issue, this video is there) play the dumbest, cleanest hi-fi party rock in recent memory.

Video: YACHT, “Psychic City (Voodoo City)”

Our people Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans bka YACHT sure have stepped it up a giant metaphysical notch with their new video. According to the accompanying blog post on YACHT’s website, the duo were inspired by a strange event in the Lone Star State:

Two years ago, while traveling through the West Texas desert on tour, we experienced firsthand a paranormal phenomenon called the Marfa “Mystery Lights.” This experience was a catalyst, and we soon moved to Marfa, Texas, to work and develop our already-acute interest in religion, ritual, and mystery.

This is not all that odd as travelers in West Texas often experience strange visions and internal reordering after eating the BBQ and beans at Rudy’s outside of San Antonio—tends to kick in about an hour later. Still, this Judah Switzer-directed clip is beyond the beyond and we congratulate them on a triumphant realization. Definitely make sure to catch YACHT on tour right now wherever and snag the new album See Mystery Lights either at the show or from DFA.

Contest: Win Eskuché Headphones + DFA 12″

Our good friends at Eskuché have partnered with our frequent obsession DFA Records to put together a special edition package of Eskuché’s 33 1/3 headphones (which are bombproof and sound awesome) and a 12″ of The Juan Maclean’s “One Day” single (also bombproof and awesome sounding) with remixes by James Curd and Lazaro Casanova that comes with MP3s of each. You can purchase this sweet deal at select Urban Outfitters or email us right now at contests@thefader.com with “headphones” in the subject line and your contact info in the body to win everything for nothing.

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Free Energy, “Free Energy” MP3

Maybe there are a million bands making Cheap Trick/Thin Lizzy-style rock these days, but most of them, we are guessing, are made up of dudes with bald-tops and girlfriends whose saggy bellies hang precariously out of the front of their tank tops, not skinny Evan Dando types who dance like your 6-year-old niece trying to copy the latest Ciara video. The latter is what Free Energy is and that is why we like them, aside from the fact that they do what they do really well and James Murphy makes it sound like the last couple decades didn’t really need to happen.



Download: Free Energy, “Free Energy”

Bonus: Free Energy Live on MPR’s The Current

Freeload: Holy Ghost!, “I Will Come Back”

Literally every time we run across Nick or Alex of dance duo Holy Ghost! on the streets of New York, they tell us about some DJ gig they just did in Switzerland or Brazil and have really nice shirts on. They usually don’t look all that stressed and we automatically ask what they’re working on. It’s like a gag reflex, only instead of wanting to puke, we want to dance all night. This new song just released on Green Label Sound will, as a matter of fact, be playing the next time we do just that… dance, not puke. With oohs provided by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, a drum fill homage to New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle,” and a video that will be a remake of that group’s 1983 classic “Confusion” (we’ve seen it, it’s awesome), this comes just in time for what we hear is called “summer in New York City.”

Freeload: Gavin Russom Mix for 20JFG

Only a site as stylistically esoteric and linguistically labyrinthine as 20 Jazz Funk Greats would write a long post about astronomers and Goya’s nightmares and weird little bands with crazy songs and then plop a custom mix by an unquestionable badass at the very bottom, but that is exactly what we love about 20JFG and why we listen to everything on it. For a more personal approach to Russom and his Black Meteoric Star project, watch our recent FADER TV episode in which we visited him in his DFA rehearsal space and went to his show at MoMA.

Download: Gavin Russom Mix for 20 Jazz Funk Greats

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RCRD LBL: Syclops’ I’ve Got My Eye On You Album Stream

When creating our DFA feature in Issue 53 (read it here), one character who figured prominently in the planning stages was Maurice Fulton, whose Syclops project had just been added to the label’s roster. Unfortunately, we were told in no uncertain terms that Maurice would not be in the story if his life depended on it, so we had to be content with a mere mention. Fortunately, albums still get released even if we don’t write stories about them (believe it), and Syclops’ I’ve Got My Eye On You is out now. Our pals at RCRD LBL are streaming the album exclusively on their site right now, so go listen for free, and then go buy for money.

Stream: Syclops, I’ve Got My Eye On You

On The Street: We Saw Colors

Color Chart premiered at the MoMA last Saturday eve and to kick off the exhibit the DFA roster (Holy Ghost!, the Juan MacLean, T&T, Justin Miller & Jacques Renault) spun us into a psychedelic electro rave—think Damien Hirst meets glow sticks. Ok, so maybe not that dramatic, but we definitely had a healthy serving of color-clad styles and even some Jasper Johns ‘Grey’ enthusiasts to counter the neon spray. While we sported our own versions of vintage black, others balled out in bright pink jumpers and electric yellow-blocked sweaters. Still, there’s no denying the subtle dark shades of one particular geometric coat and a finely executed cap’d couplet. Lesson learned: grey does love neon.

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Video: Shocking Pinks, “Emily”

Last we heard Shocking Pinks aka Nick Harte was from New Zealand, but we swear we’ve seen dude trawling for ‘tang in the East Village like every time we go to work on Friday nights. Not hating, just saying Welcome to the Big City, romeo! Also saying that Shocking Pinks’ album on DFA last year was kind of slept on, that we jam it on the regular (including on said Friday nights) and that if you’re looking for some downer anthems you could do worse.

Video: Hercules & Love Affair, “Blind”

Is this about losing your virginity? Or global warming? It’s unclear, but we can respect its Tarsem steez. This is the UK video for Hercules’ Antony-featuring single, so hopefully DFA will counter with something weirder, like a full-on recreation of Godspell with trained cats. We have been jamming “Blind” a lot lately and think Antony’s next album should be all Arthur Russell joints like this, even though I Am A Bird Now got us through some things. Check out FADER 51 for our Gen F on Hercules and Love Affair.

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