Tjutjuna, “Collider” MP3

Denver, Colorado’s Woodsman, who released a heavy, blissed out LP on Mexican Summer recently, also have their own label called Fire Talk. It’s on the smaller side of things—just tapes, CD-Rs and limited release singles—and will probably succeed because, despite their size, they release solid jams with some regularity. One such jam isTjutjuna’s “Collider,” which is from a split 7-inch with fellow Denverites Fissure Mystic and is a completely immersive guitar whirlwind bad trip nightmare. In a good way.



Download: Tjutjuna, “Collider”

High Places, “On Giving Up” MP3

When High Places relocated to the West Coast, the last thing we would have expected them to do would be clean up their sound—do away with the constant percussion rattle, the assortment of wood blocks and distinct lack of guitar. But now we have “On Giving Up,” which embraces Hollywood sleaze and then dubs it out. Most noticeable though, is Mary Pearson’s now husky vocals at the forefront of the track. In short, they moved to LA and got real confident.



Download: High Places, “On Giving Up” (via P4K)

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Panda Bear Live in Berlin 2010

Looking at Panda Bear’s tour schedule is almost as mind-altering as listening to this recent solo set at Berlin’s Life is Live Conference on January 15th: he’s visiting mystical places named Kortrijk, Minehead and Butlin’s Holiday Centre. Were these locations specifically created to host a Panda Bear show or is Noah Lennox touring the inside of James Cameron’s superego (PS DO NOT EVER SINCERELY SPEAK NA’VI IN PUBLIC UNLESS YOU ARE WORTH A BILLION DOLLARS)? Either way, we’re excited to hear some new Panda Bear stateside after getting a taste at last fall’s ATP in upstate New York. Google “panda bear berlin 2010″ to find the mp3s, invite some Germans over and start getting reservedly excited for the new album (overt emotionality makes them uncomfortable). Also check video of the PB version of Merriweather’s “Daily Routine” after the jump.

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Active Child, “Wildnerness” MP3

If Vangelis has somehow heard this, he has to be stoked. Active Child’s “Wilderness” owes him a huge debt, building layered, ghostly vocals on top of rippling synths and drums that sound like god dribbling a basketball on the floor of the Grand Canyon. How crazy is it that this comes from a cassette tape? It feels so much more futuristic, like it should be played via hologram somehow.



Download: Active Child, “Wilderness” (via The Great Pumpkin)

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Infinite Body, “Drive Dreams Away” MP3

We recently hopped in a taxi at the end of an exhausting night and noticed the cab driver had some soothing Enya-lite jams playing from his speakers. No crystals in the window, but the drone was soothing, its constant lulling presence. When we got home, the upstairs neighbors were making a lot of noise so we put on Infinite Body’s “Drive Dreams Away” and zoned out until morning. We’re not even sure if we slept, but it doesn’t matter because we woke up feeling like we just came off the illest, most relaxing vacation ever. It got us thinking about the difference between the new age we heard in the cab and the record we listened to at home. What’s the difference? Why is one more satisfying than the other? The answer is that Infinite Body’s drone is rougher, more organic, where Enya is more cascading and artificial. Infinite Body is less experienced, but more exciting. We’ll stop those comparisons there, because they come from very different places and have different intentions. Infinite Body has a whole bunch of great releases already, with Carve Out the Face of my God coming soon on PPM.



Download: Infinite Body, “Drive Dreams Away”

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Nite Jewel, “The Kamera Song” MP3

You’re automatically going to get a million cool points for covering Can, so we can only throw Nite Jewel an extra mil for covering “The Kamera Song” from Can-before-they-were-Can band The Inner Space, which is about as obscure as it can get. She could probably coast with nerds on namecheckery alone, but luckily she’s got some more integrity at play, and instead recorded a version that’s every bit as good as the rest of her weird ass catalog. Stay tuned for her next project where she’ll be singing backup vocals on an album of Johnny Cash covers performed by Prince.



Download: Nite Jewel, “The Kamera Song” (via 20JFG)

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Dream Team: Dipset Producer AraabMuzik and Japanese Noise Artist Merzbow

If you read our recent Listmania 2009, you may have noticed our request for collaborations between some of our favorite artists like The Knife vs Salem, Phoenix & The-Dream (actual band name) and Big Boi & Andre 3000. That got us thinking about who else we’d like to see pair up or go head-to-head in 2010, and the second we saw the above video of teenage Dipset producer AraabMuzik speed-tapping an MPC sample into oblivion, we knew we had our next contender. AraabMuzik is responsible for such majestic recent Dipset hits as Cam’ron’s “Curve,” Hell Rell’s “For A Profit” and JR Writer’s “Gorilla Muzik”—all ridiculously slept on—but in his free time he likes to show off his unnatural fast twitch arm muscles by shredding a sample until it breaks you down mentally. Which of course instantly reminded us of Japanese noise legend and sonic brute, Merzbow (video after the jump), who we saw at the first Arthurfest in LA and haven’t been able to hear children speak or birds whistle since. In 2010, we would like to see these kindred spirits join together for some productions. Like maybe a Freekey Zeeky remix or something. (runners up: Black Dice and Fuck Buttons)

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The Knife f. Mt Sims & Planningtorock, “Colouring of Pigeons” MP3

Not in a million years would we have guessed The Knife would collaborate with electroclash frontiersman Mt Sims, but then again, this song comes from a Danish opera about Darwin, so why not? “Colouring of Pigeons” is available to subscribers to The Knife’s mailing list in anticipation of the opera’s soundtrack release in March, and if you go to their site you can read about some of its odd history. And at about 4m20s into the teaser video above, you can hear the song in its full operatic glory along with segments of several other songs.



Download: The Knife f. Mt Sims & Planningtorock, “Colouring of Pigeons” (email reg required)

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Banjo Or Freakout Kind Of Makes A Christmas Album

We haven’t checked in with Banjo or Freakout in a while, but it is comforting to know that his streak of ridiculous productivity is continuing, this time beating out all those lames who thought that all they needed to do was record just one holiday song. Instead he’s recorded an entire album of gloomy, wispy covers that sound so different from their source materials they may as well be original. Good luck trying to latch onto any of these tracks as a favorite, but as a whole throw it on if you are trying to have the saddest Christmas ever, or just listen to it later and pretend none of the songs are actually about the holidays.

Download: Banjo or Freakout, Xmas Album (via GvsB)

Severed Heads Edit an Internet Magazine

People in the ’70s and early ’80s thought the future would be made of white chairs shaped like pods, a lot of neon and ambiguous machines that didn’t seem to really do anything. Of course, much of that comes from watching a bunch of movies from that era, but also from the electronic music of the time, of which there is a lot we are still unfamiliar with. Modular has taken a couple steps to change that for us and, presumably, you with their new Podmag series. Besides the fact that the entire thing is conveniently laid out, the first issue is edited by Australian electronic visionaries Severed Heads. And in addition to an excellent mix of weird synth jams by everyone from Human League and the Talking Heads to Primitive Calculator and The Residents, there’s archival stories from the early days of Australia’s post-punk/harsh electronic scene and a crucial selection of key videos. It’s like a really brief, really interesting history lesson condensed into 15 minutes.

Circa 1979: Signal to Noise Issue 1—Severed Heads

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