T H I S M U S I C W I N S

Brighton’s The Great Escape Festival, by some margin the...

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:09:00 +0100

Brighton’s The Great Escape Festival, by some margin the largest new music industry event in Europe, is upon us and 300+ artists will be descending upon this tiny town to play shows Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In this week’s This Music Wins I take you through 4 artists I think you should check out - Boy Friend, Porcelain Raft, Slow Down Molasses, and Milagres.

Resonance FM is also running its own stage - on which I will be performing with Kinnie The Explorer. Arrive promptly 7pm @ The Haunt on Saturday 12th of May to catch us - we are followed by the excellent Vondelpark, Porcelain Raft and the sublime Micachu & The Shapes. Here’s the facebook event.

Let me know if you want to meet for a beer! @peterlanceley

This Music Wins (21/4/2012) on Resonance 104.4 FM. Every...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:55:00 +0100

This Music Wins (21/4/2012) on Resonance 104.4 FM. Every Saturday at 6.30pm (GMT)

1. Dirty Projectors - You Against The Larger World

2. Peaking Lights - LO HI

3. Outfit - Drakes

4. Woodsman - Supernal Radionics

5. Lower Dens - Lamb

6. Beach House - Myth

Listen to the 41st show again here…

This Music Wins (14/4/2012) on Resonance 104.4 FM. Every...

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 11:08:00 +0100

This Music Wins (14/4/2012) on Resonance 104.4 FM. Every Saturday at 6.30pm (GMT)

1. Liars - No 1. Against The Rush

2. Ed Schrader’s Music Beat - My Mind Is Broken

3. Lykta - Atlastka

4. Adam Smith - Islands

5. Spartak - Lover’s Distress

6. Deerhoof (with Of Montreal) - A Filthy Fith

7. Belleruche - Clover Leaf

Listen again to the 40th show here…

This Music Wins (7/4/2012) on Resonance 104.4 FM. Every Saturday...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 13:17:00 +0100

This Music Wins (7/4/2012) on Resonance 104.4 FM. Every Saturday at 6.30pm (GMT)

1. Dirty Projectors - Gun Has No Trigger

2. Mesita - On Through The Dark

3. Derek Piotr - Colossus

4. R. Stevie Moore + Ariel Pink - No Zipper

5. AU - Get Alive

6. Maundrie Fox - I Miss

7. Xiu Xiu - Always (Erasure Cover)

Listen again to the 39th show here…

North Bay - Thorough Masterminds North Bay’s recent song...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:44:04 +0100

North Bay - Thorough Masterminds

North Bay’s recent song ‘Thorough Masterminds’, kindly deposited in my inbox last night, is one of the more recent songs to surface from the grandiose ambient music project of Oxford’s Tom Jenkinson. On listening to the music I cannot help but visualise a kind of multi-layered mesh of grey sounds rising up and surrounding. The ghoulish, rural, production is vast and infinite and dream-like. The recording and each gentle chord progression in the bass underpins an excavation of musical detail, but the general feel is as is important, capturing in the half-audible vocal layering a Church-like choral folk sound.

I cannot tell how many softly spoken voices there are - or how many instruments are looped and drenched in a natural reverb, but there is enough happening in these five ethereal minutes that the arrangement is multi-faceted and impossible not to re-interpret in new ways each time listen. For all the faithful shoegaze overcrowding in the mix, retained is that idiosyncratic, British softness in production, hints of the central British countryside, and a shadow of spiritual Church-folk music.

Find more of North Bay on facebook or soundcloud, where he’s delivering song after song in the same vein as Thorough Masterminds (below).

Jamie Isaac - Hollow Words (Live Mix) Hollow Words is Jamie...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:07:56 +0100

Jamie Isaac - Hollow Words (Live Mix)

Hollow Words is Jamie Isaac at his finest - live, and mixed as such. This song - available below as a free download for a limited time only - slides forth with an audible nod to contemporary electronica at the outset, before its being resonantly engulfed in a deep and cavernous reverb tends instead towards fluctuating and delicate ambient music. As ever, the vocals are predominantly devised to reinforce, occupying the space behind the sprawl and slipping out altogether before long in a painstakingly short ode to calm. The universe slows down for Jamie Isaac’s mournful, slow motion rhythms. Find him on facebook and soundcloud and be sure to grab one of these downloads before the opportunity fades.

Album Premiere: Shinamo Moki - For You I’m very proud...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:09:18 +0100

Album Premiere: Shinamo Moki - For You

I’m very proud indeed to be able to première this excellent new EP from Uckfield bedroom duo Shinamo Moki, the latest in a long line of South East UK acts to collaborate with New York digital label Housewarming Records for a free and digital only release. I live in the South East, which qualifies me a little in proclaiming HR’s skill at unearthing local electronic talent is unparalleled (see Birkwin Jersey and J Biscuits), especially considering just how remotely he operates.

This EP is underpinned and defined by its percussion, which is loud and tight but wilfully reserved and constantly unfolding. “Zeal” is digital to the core, opening the gates for a monochrome, Gold Panda-esque rattle of vague splintering motifs which palpitate and flourish under guise of a solid, crackling snare sound. The introduction of a kind of grand electronic string sound sets a precedent for the eclectic, and it is not long at all before “Umi” (above) represents the unleashing of the Eastern influence which colours, to varying degrees, the EP in its later stages.

“Jaded” is retro and trance-inducing, utilising an fluid fade-in and background gurgles (of vocals??) to create a watery ambience which the final track manages to hold together, by means of a wonderfully organic acoustic sound on a slow-burning and pleasant chord progression. Its not long before its engulfed in a wash of tearing ambient noise - a moment for headphones, if anything is.

Keep up with Shinamo Moki and HR first by downloading the EP for FREE just below, and if it takes your liking then you can connect with Shinamo Moki on their facebook and soundcloud pages. Fascinated to hear more from them, so I know I’ll be keeping tabs.

HOUSEWARMING RECORDS WEBSITE

Ikue Mori - Master Of Deception Ikue Mori, a formative influence...

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:58:41 +0100

Ikue Mori - Master Of Deception

Ikue Mori, a formative influence in the No Wave act DNA in the 70s and influential character in contemporary avant-garde, is streaming this wonderful piece of audible art via Sound And Music’s Soundcloud page, the same London-based, Arts Council-funded organisation who are currently co-promoting her short UK tour. As this post goes out, two dates remain, the first at London’s Ashwin Street Resonance-affiliated venue Cafe Oto (details), and tomorrow at Belfast’s Black Box (details).

Ikue Mori Website.

Maundrie Fox - Maundrie Fox “I Miss”, along with the...

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:37:24 +0100

Maundrie Fox - Maundrie Fox

“I Miss”, along with the rest of Maundrie Fox’s self-titled debut EP, possesses a kind of filmic quality which decries genre-classification. Intriguing and melancholy, an amorphous and cloud-like grey engulfs the tracks’ centre-points, a vaguely electronic contour encasing a warm and fuzzy whir which widens and clips as this EP unwinds.

The drum tracks sound acoustic to my untrained ear, and gain in confidence as songs pass. On “I Miss” they mumble and murmur and shift in and out of time, by “Listening” they are fully-fledged and carelessly scattered. “Taller Friends” shows them up as triumphant, before “And The Dark” mellows out to close. Find more of Maundrie Fox on: facebook, soundcloud and bandcamp. I hope we’ll see a lot more of this project, as this EP is not to be missed.

Stream/download Maundrie Fox’s s/t EP at Bandcamp for just $5.

This Music Wins (24/3/2012) on Resonance 104.4 FM. Every...

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:50:00 +0100

This Music Wins (24/3/2012) on Resonance 104.4 FM. Every Saturday at 6.30pm.

Listen again to the 38th show here…

Resonance FM #36 Beach House, The War On Drugs, Monster Rally,...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:25:15 +0000

Resonance FM #36 Beach House, The War On Drugs, Monster Rally, Niama Makalou, Halls, Burial & Four Tet

Listen live to This Music Wins #36 on Resonance 104.4 FM Saturday 10th March or stream the show below.

LISTEN/DOWNLOAD: This Music Wins #36 (MP3)

1. Beach House - Myth

2. The War On Drugs - Buenos Aires Beach

3. Monster Rally & Rum Tum - Tribes

4. Niama Makalou et African Soul Band - Kognokaura

5. Burial & Four Tet - Nova

6. Halls - Cave Days

This Music Wins #36 10/3/2012 Beach House, The War On Drugs, Monster Rally & Rum Tum from thismusicwins on 8tracks.

Lorca - Can’t See Higher / Missed Me This sharp, striking...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:08:16 +0000

Lorca - Can’t See Higher / Missed Me

This sharp, striking effort from 22 year old Brighton producer Lorca is, put simply, breathtaking. Deep angular rhythms and a faded, drug-induced bass-line palpitate and lace a ghostly gallop of a rhythm, slowly but surely drawing together across six minutes to climax in a sleek slow-burning, futuristic and synthesised complex. This one is a Dummy release, scheduled for March 19th.

Comodo - Havana / Float Oli Shilling’s downcast,...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:34:05 +0000

Comodo - Havana / Float

Oli Shilling’s downcast, occasionally overbearing R’n’B reminds me at least superficially of other projects I’ve been absorbed by over the past few months. With London’s emerging Halls it shares a deep, cavernous reverb - with Stew Green’s excellent Carnivals it shares not only a similar vibe in production but also its sporadic and rich sound-pallette. Perhaps its most definite formal similarities, though, are born from its eloquently unfolding allusions to early 90s R’n’B and sampled soul which echo aspects of Burial & Four Tet’s sound. ‘Havana’ without doubt draws heavily from the latter, but also shadows the fast-paced, monochrome sheen of Tri Angle Records and associated forces in modern electronic music (Holy Other, How To Dress Well, etc), albeit in its own distinctive style. An EP is in the works but as of yet, no details are attached. More info here.

Resonance FM #35 Women, Julia Holter, Panabrite, Dirty Beaches,...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:09:15 +0000

Resonance FM #35 Women, Julia Holter, Panabrite, Dirty Beaches, Shlomo

Listen live to This Music Wins #35 on Resonance 104.4 FM Saturday evening at 6.30pm, and/or stream/download the show in advance below.

Listen/Download: This Music Wins #35 (MP3)

1. Women - Eyesore - RIP Christopher Reimer.

2. Julia Holter - In The Same Room - Album Stream

3. Panabrite - Camembert Symphony

4. Dirty Beaches - EOTR Festival Announcement

5. Shlomo - It Rained The Whole Time (Nicolas Jaar remix)

This Music Wins #35 3/3/2012 RIP Christopher Reimer, Julia Holter, Panabrite from thismusicwins on 8tracks.

Resonance FM #34 Kinlaw, Wild Nothing, In India, North Bay,...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:18:40 +0000

Resonance FM #34 Kinlaw, Wild Nothing, In India, North Bay, Derek Piotr, Beach Fossils

Listen live on Resonance 104.4 FM Saturday evening at 6.30pm (GMT). Or stream/download the 34th This Music Wins below.

Listen/Download: This Music Wins #34 (MP3)

1. Kinlaw - BRA§E

2. Wild Nothing - Nowhere

3. In India - Spring Song (Glossolalia)

4. North Bay - Echo (via Gold Flake Paint / Crack In The Road)

5. Derek Piotr - Focus (Jhom’s Repetez Remix)

6. Beach Fossils - Shallow

Swansea Recreation Centre + Blood Rexdale And The Walls Are...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:54:31 +0000

Swansea Recreation Centre + Blood Rexdale And The Walls Are Blonde - Unchained Swan Blood

I’ve always considered the humorous element to Swansea Recreation Centre’s music one of its defining features, so I was pleased to see its patent exaggeration on this collaboration with Toronto folk band Blood Rexdale And The Walls Are Blonde (who provided vocals), for this bouncy synth-pop influenced quasi-cover of The Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody”. The video teeters on the cusp of sublimity, and I’m so taken up in the Ariel Pink-esque vibe of the whole creation that I felt an urgent need to post it up here. Here’s some thoughts on SRC’s previous releases, the bandcamp page of BRATWAB (also worth checking out) and a link to SRC’s heavily stylised, entertaining and oft-updated tumblr page.

Major Napier - Major Soldier EP I first introduced Australian...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:58:01 +0000

Major Napier - Major Soldier EP

I first introduced Australian artist Major Napier to you last November; a time when I was particularly enamoured with his cover of Sharon Van Etten’s Lovemore. Almost immediately after I wrote, he released a free download EP of bedroom-recorded songs entitled ‘Major Soldier’, which I was reminded of via an enthused post on Zen Tapes today. The slow, booming drum-sound prevalent throughout “Crowning Observation” (below) is idiosyncratic of the whole release, Johnny Ross careful to keep the beat sufficiently organic-sounding and sunken in reverb to explicate the full aura of lo-fi ambience. There’s a new electronic dimension here; and a wide-ranging set of angular multi-layered harmonies which are decidedly direction-less. ’Amazing/ A Tribute to Jan Zajíc’ is a frivolous and swirling hip-hop influenced piece of folk-induced electronica, with a loose Kanye-style autotune (which works in the least obnoxious way possible) and Braids-esque psychedelic grandeur in the instrumentals. The limited-run CD will set you back just $10 Australian dollars, the download is totally free. Both options workable from Major Napier’s Bandcamp page.

Resonance FM #33 In India, Memoryhouse, IVVVO, SNOWMINE, Coma...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:58:00 +0000

Resonance FM #33 In India, Memoryhouse, IVVVO, SNOWMINE, Coma Cinema, Carnivals

LISTEN: This Music Wins #33 (MP3) 28/1/2012

Tracklist

1. In India - Chime Dance

2. Memoryhouse - The Kids Were Wrong

3. IVVVO - Forests

4. SNOWMINE - Curfews

5. Coma Cinema - Only

6. Carnivals - Ino (Parts I + II)

New: StaG - Lived Like String Some of the ambient music which I...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:33:00 +0000

New: StaG - Lived Like String

Some of the ambient music which I find most compelling is the kind in which reverb decorates a steady, driving percussion. Similarly, much of the value of music I find consists in what the musician chooses to leave out, rather than what they choose to include. On StaG’s newest single, ‘Lived Like String’, I’m hearing a sunken, Church-like drift suggestive of enormity, hinting at an reserved emptiness which is totally out of reach of the listener. The beat is slow, mechanical and restless but not at the cost of organicity, and a kind of spiritual solitude and richness displaying itself in the follow up to their first full-length album is consistently vast and flowing. Rifle Meeker was one of my top albums of 2011, and perhaps Lived Like String will be up there with my songs of 2012.

New: Carnivals - Absences/Ino (Parts 1 & 2) Having uncovered...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:43:01 +0000

New: Carnivals - Absences/Ino (Parts 1 & 2)

Having uncovered Carnivals’ first release just under a year ago in the form of the Mavi Kara EP, I’m seriously excited for the year ahead now the Sheffield ‘romanticist’ producer has returned with a double sided single ‘Absences / Ino (Parts 1 & 2). In a field of moody electronica suffering saturation and lacking true pioneers, Carnivals is leaning towards an amalgamation of his former sounds: leading to the minimalist and vaguely exotic hip-hop sound particularly prevalent on ‘Leeda’ (which I broadcast at the Netaudio Festival in May), and its being combined with the claustrophobic tendencies, overcast, disconsolate murmurs and climactic, scintillating motifs to bring us ‘Absences & Ino’. One of this year’s most promising surprises has come very early on indeed..