NEO//NOIR

Welcome Back Sailors are a tough act to pin down. They fuse all the elements of current buzz genres as well as sounding completely different with each song they release. Check out Love’s The Answer, Blame It, a slow burning dreamwave number along the lines of Memoryhouse, and then listen to I’ll Be There and tell me with a straight face they sound remotely similar.

Love’s The Answer, Blame It - Welcome Back Sailors

I’ll Be There - Welcome Back Sailors

//

Naminé has clearly been heavily inspired by the Chillwave heavyweights. Spacific Ocean especially sounds like a darker, more introspective version of Washed Out’s work. Flying To England has a far more uplifting feel to it, like driving along a coastal road with with the wind in your face and the sun at your back. What is refreshing is that he’s from Melbourne, rather than somewhere in America. I feel like up until now, the Chillwave and Lo-Fi scene has been almost exclusively an American game. Good to see something this good coming from my shores. His EP is up for free download at his bandcamp so download the hell out of it.

Spacific Ocean - Naminé

Flying To England - Naminé

//

Exact Index has got another one for us called Swimming Shark. If you liked his previous work that was posted on here you’ll more than likely love this. It’s a chilled out synth driven song riddled with hazy vocals and instrumental segues. It’s the sort of track that sounds so simple but you can imagine how much behind the scenes work is actually in it. Check it out.

Swimming Shark - Exact Index

//

Kevin Greenspon makes music along the lines of Cloud Nothings and Weed Diamond, whose albums he incidentally released from his self-run record label, Bridgetown Records. While these songs are classic Lo-Fi, he also has some really interesting instrumental numbers as well. He also told me that while they sound upbeat and carefree, most of his tracks actually come from really depressing places emotionally. Could have fooled me. I recommend purchasing his CD split with Cloud Nothings from the Bridgetown Records website for the very reasonable price of $8 USD.

Carpool Pepsi - Kevin Greenspon

Post-Life - Kevin Greenspon

//

Wakey Wakeyyyy is a song by the incredibly talented wind FOREST. It has this melancholic quality to it that makes you feel both taken aback by the inherent beauty of the sounds, yet horribly depressed from the hopelessness of it all. I love the instrumental shift near the end.

Wakey Wakeyyyy - wind FOREST

//

Anoraak’s debut album finally dropped last week. It’s rad. I was expecting less from it to be honest, because while I love Anoraak, his music tends to bore after repeated plays. I find that to be true of many of the artists of the Valerie Collective in fact, they just don’t capitalise on the great start they all make with any progression, it all gets a bit stagnant.

But as I said before, that’s not the case with this album, Wherever the Sun Sets. Don’t Be Afraid is a particular highlight, which features guest vocals from Sally Shapiro.

Don’t Be Afraid - Anoraak

//

Okinawa Lifestyle are really interesting. They mix the hard Electro styling of Boys Noize or even Justice and Digitalism with the ethereal sentimentality and sample work of Post-Chillwave. Wir Sind In Der Zukunft Geblieben is a perfect example of this marriage of genres, it’s fucking amazing and is in a constant state of flux between the genres mentioned above.

Wir Sind In Der Zukunft Geblieben - Okinawa Lifestyle

//

Here’s a song you may or may not have heard depending on how invested you are in the design world. I first heard Le Petit Prince (From Meine Meinung) on this amazing motion graphics video, and I’ve been trying to work out how to get a hold of it ever since. It’s by Cubesato, an Electronic musician from Japan. Listening to this upbeat, ephemeral masterpiece will lift you out of any emotional rut in only one minute and forty seconds; guaranteed. It’s even more amazing when accompanied by the video so make sure you watch it too.

Le Petit Prince (From Meine Meinung) - Cubesato

//

And here’s the best track I’ll be posting on here for a while I imagine, from a House artist no less! Teenage Crime by Adrian Lux has been getting some serious air time on Australia’s only radio station of worth; Triple J. I could fumble through vague descriptors and attempt to conjure cliche imagery of all the moments it could and will go on to represent in your life, but you should probably just stop reading and start listening.

I will throw some keywords at you though;

Fred Falke,

Alan Braxe,

Infectious vocal hook;

Go.

Teenage Crime - Adrian Lux

//

First Rate People’s It’s Never Not Happening was a fairly decent EP. It sounded way too Folky for my taste at times but the more Pop-orientated tracks were almost perfect. This is a new track from them called Gentleman’s Club, and it’s inspired by Skins and features guest vocals by the dude from Born Ruffians apparently, although I can’t hear them for the life of me. Either way it’s a really solid track.

Gentleman’s Club - First Rate People

//

Something I Can Reach is a catchy Chillwave/Lo-Fi number from GhostWaves. I think that Chillwave and Lo-Fi bands need to stop picking their names from the same 5 words everytime, it’s starting to get confusing between Beach Fossils, Beach House, Memory Tapes, Memoryhouse, Wavves, GhostWaves, NightWaves, Wild Nothing, Cloud Nothings etc.

Something I Can Reach - GhostWaves

//

Homee is a chilled out jam from Hooray! The dreamlike, indecipherable vocals and birdsong samples only add to the nostalgic, relaxed feel of an already tranquil song. It’s got some great bongo drum work in there as well, which is always tough to pull off.

Homee - Hooray!

//

Beach Fossils have a new double A-side headed our way called Face It / Distance. I’m not going to beat around the bush, everyone has already got it. And it’s all quality. Face It features vocals from the band’s bassist, just to mix things up a bit, and Distance sounds like it could have been a track ripped straight from the self titled debut released earlier this year. Here’s Distance. Make sure you buy it cause they are both stellar tracks.

Distance - Beach Fossils

//

People are positively losing their shit over Toro y Moi’s side project, Les Sins. He’s moved away from the Chillwave zone and firmly into the French House Revival quadrant. Lina, one of a handful of tracks floating around the internet right now, is mad good. And if it’s reflective of the quality of subsequent releases from Les Sins, then Chaz Bundick is some sort of demi-god.

Lina - Les Sins

//

I’m late to the party on this one, but The Count & Sinden recently collaborated with Mystery Jets for their album, Mega Mega Mega. And it’s a funky cowbell driven dance monster. I thought Mystery Jets had exhausted all of their dance potential with Crosswords, but I’m glad to be proven wrong.

After Dark - The Count & Sinden

//

Blackbird Blackbird recently utilised an Emily Reo sample for one of their songs off Modern Disbelief. I think that Emily Reo is great for collaborations, but her individual work has never resonated with me. This song is no exception; it’s a perfect combination. Really liking this new stuff from Blackbird Blackbird too.

Fade To White - Blackbird Blackbird

//

Egyptian Hip Hop’s Some Reptiles Grew Wings is one of the most balanced EPs released this year. All four tracks are incredible I think. Native, the 6 minute closer, is a particular highlight. Listening to it reminds me so much of The Cure in their mid 80’s stage, more specifically, the work on The Head On The Door. Alex Hewitt’s hushed growl is always incredibly compelling, and especially so on Native. Furthermore, SRGW also has a final mix of Rad Pitt, a track I always thought was some focused refinement away from being an amazing song. And they did it perfectly.

Native - Egyptian Hip Hop

Rad Pitt - Egyptian Hip Hop

//

Walsh is the side project of Coolrunnings’ Brandon Biondo. It’s far more electronic than the band’s usual work, and clearly an outlet for his desire to experiment with less organic compositions. My favourite on the Smoke Weed About It EP is Untitled, it features vocals from Matt Cothran. It’s more chillwave than most of the other songs on there, and a stark contrast to Luxury, which is a Lo-Fi Hip-Hop number with Squadda Bambino. Both are awesome.

Untitled - Walsh

Luxury - Walsh

//

Keeping the Coolrunnings tracks coming here, so bear with me. This one is a remix of a track from Kisses amazing (yet largely ignored) debut, The Heart Of The Nightlife. The track is People Can Do The Most Amazing Things, and Coolrunnings have messed the whole thing up in a really cool way. It has a slow, lumbering beat, and the vocals, while at first sound almost out of time, quickly grow on you. It’s a worthy and appropriately varied remix to an already great song.

People Can Do The Most Amazing Things (Coolrunnings Mix) - Kisses

//

And finally from Coolrunnings, is a new song from them called I Can Be Dreamy. It’s exciting to see the guys listening to their new, but still unreleased tracks on their last.fm profiles, because it means that they are coming very soon. Looks like an EP’s worth of new material. I Can Be Dreamy blends the styling of both their previous two Extended Plays with the more polished sound of I Am You, and it’s basically exactly the direction I hoped they would go in.

I Can Be Dreamy - Coolrunnings

//

Atlantic At Pacific has a very Memory Cassette sound to him. Weddings is an instrumental track that starts quite slow and then really picks up about 50 seconds in. He seems like the kind of artist that many might miss out on hearing because of the nature of the music, don’t make that mistake.

Weddings - Atlantic At Pacific

//

My Friend Wallis is a Lo-Fi artist whose music reminds me a whole lot of Memoryhouse. Especially in These Moments. Much of her work also has an unmistakable tropical vibe to it. Really cool basically. Check her out.

These Moments - My Friend Wallis

//

Egyptian Hip Hop are building up momentum to their EP and subsequent album release by the looks of things. Yet another song by them, this time in the instrumental vein. Middle Name Period is going to get attention from the second it starts, it doesn’t waste any time getting to the killer riffs. But I think my favourite part is near the end where the ethereal harmonies come in.

Middle Name Period - Egyptian Hip Hop

//

Class Actress covered Neon Indian’s hit, Terminally Chill (still probably one of the best song names ever made). I was a tad late with this week’s Hype so most will already have this cover, but I’m throwing it up anyway. I count this among the two tracks by her I genuinely like, her version is still hazy but there’s this gentle growl to her voice that really changes things up.

Terminally Chill - Class Actress

//

Here’s a new one from Cloud Nothings from his split CD with Kevin Greenspon. Dylan Baldi is a machine; try as I might, I can’t keep up with his release rate, and I love the shit out of him for it. He also has a new EP coming out on True Panther; Leave You Forever, with four new songs, and the re-release of Turning On coming out about the same time with a slew of extra tracks as well.

I’ll say it now to ruin any “Best Artists of 2010” lists I may make, Cloud Nothings is in pole position.

Oh, and yeah, the track is really insanely good.

I Apologize - Cloud Nothings

//

Memoryhouse recently released a photobook with an accompanying instrumental album to be sold in limited numbers at their shows. Denise took the photos, Evan made the music. Summer Sleep is definitely my favourite track on there.

Summer Sleep - Evan Abeele

//

Blackbird Blackbird’s new song Modern Disbelief is really working for me. While I didn’t really find anything too great about the recently released album, this song feels less outwardly weird, the vocals are a bit more clear, and it just comes across as a more skillfully constructed pop song.

Modern Disbelief - Blackbird Blackbird

//

Surf City’s debut has been a long time coming. Good news is that it’s really solid overall. Teacher has this great summer soundtrack vibe to it, it feels like the sort of song that could have existed all throughout your youth, and you’ve discovered it again after all these years with the memories flooding back in a wave of nostalgia.

Teacher - Surf City

//

Autre Ne Veut’s album flip-flops between really great and annoying to listen to. For every track that makes you want to change songs there’s another that draws you in. Depending on how you see the glass will determine whether you see this as a good thing or bad thing. New Depth is rad, but I still haven’t heard anything by him as good as the previously posted Bossy.

New Depth - Autre Ne Veut

//

This is from Toro y Moi’s latest EP, Leave Everywhere. A great deal of people already have this song I think, but I’m still posting it because it shows a pretty big change in sound from his previous work. Leave Everywhere has a more Lo-Fi feel to it than his stuff ever has, with almost no electronic elements in it whatsoever. It’s a very different sound to what you’re used to or may dislike, so be sure to give it a spin regardless of your opinion of him.

Leave Everywhere - Toro y Moi

//

Water Baby is a cool track from BIGCOLOUR. It pretty much fits the bill for the Lo-Fi I post up here, with a similar sound to that of Hanoi Janes. I am a sucker for this sort of carefree, almost tropical-sounding guitar work.

Water Baby - BIGCOLOUR

//

The Delfields recently released an album called Bedroom Girls, with each track being named after a different girl with really varied sounds for each one. I’d like to hope that these are really girls they know / have banged and each track truly represents their personality. Emily’s my favourite.

Emily - The Delfields

//

Exact Index is an up and comer with a cool Chillwave sound, although Home was originally tagged as “Zonewave/Gli-Fi” when he sent it to me. I don’t have time for your crazy micro-genres buddy, lets stick to the ones that make sense, like Chillwave, or Witch House, or Glo-Fi, or Dreamwave, or Thillcore, or Post-Rad, alright?

The track itself has great hazy vocals, and a laid-back beat. It’s perfect background music and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible.

Home - Exact Index

//

Craft Spells & Emily Reo teamed up for this catchy track that mixes the current musical directions of both into a compelling Electro-Pop number. I really do prefer Craft Spells’ more Lo-Fi work to the more recent stuff, but this is definitely better than Reo’s previous works in my opinion. It’d be great to see them doing more stuff like this in the future.

Love Well Spent - Craft Spells & Emily Reo

//

Here’s an acoustic performance of an unreleased Cloud Nothings track called Forget You All The Time. Genius, as always.

Forget You All The Time - Cloud Nothings

//

Hipster Runoff’s recent Twin Shadow plug reminded me that there were some compelling tracks on his debut, namely Slow and Shooting Holes. This is the latter.

Shooting Holes - Twin Shadow

//

How To Dress Well’s EP compilation is out, and it’s solid overall for sure, but only a few stand out tracks really “pop”. You Won’t Need Me Where I’m Goin’ sums up his whole Lo-Fi R&B tag rather succinctly I think, and is definitely my favourite track so far.

You Won’t Need Me Where I’m Goin’ - How To Dress Well

//

Caged Animals is hard to pin down, in the age of Lo-Fi/Chillwave he’s somewhere in the middle, but there’s aspects of dozens of different genres in his work. This Summer I’ll Make It Up To You is what everyone’s used to, a summertime jam with jangly guitars and hazy vocals. Telling You Lies on the other hand is a slow burner with female vocals that has this strange familiarity to it, like a track from your youth that has been long forgotten.

This Summer I’ll Make It Up To You - Caged Animals

Telling You Lies - Caged Animals

//

Elite Gymnastics remixed their song, Real Love, and added a rap cameo from Jay Curry. If you like good Hip-Hop, and you like Elite Gymnastics (and that should be all of you) then what are you waiting for?

Real Love (Night Bus Version Ft. Jay Curry) - Elite Gymnastics

//

Stay Out Tonight is a rad Chillwave jam from LAY BAC. It’s pretty dancey compared to his previous work, and definitely a step in the right direction.

Stay Out Tonight - LAY BAC

//

I can’t make my mind up about His Clancyness, I know there’s fanbase and I can see why that would be the case, but I just can’t get into it. I see huge potential there, but I think the tracks always fall just short of the mark. I do really like Nothing And Nowhere To Go though, hazy vocals clearly do something for me.

Nothing And Nowhere To Go - His Clancyness

//

Autre Ne Veut has a new one called Two Days Of Rain, it’s pretty Electro-Pop which makes his previous inclusion on that Lindsay Lohan Witch House mix tape even more perplexing. Pretty catchy shit.

Two Days Of Rain - Autre Ne Veut

//

Too Many Sebastians recently coaxed Cosmonaut Grechko into remixing I Wish You by Capsule. Thank god they did because this track is ridiculous.

I Wish You (Cosmonaut Grechko Bootleg) - Capsule

//

[Partial image credit due to Tom Cramond.]

//