T H I S M U S I C W I N S
A music blog and radio series by Peter Lanceley, a writer, musician and broadcaster based in Brighton, UK. Click the artwork below to listen to my most recent LP with Kinnie The Explorer.



Theme by Stijn
January 31st
5:58 PM
2 notes
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.

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.

#major napier      #australia      #stag      #reverb      #new music      #ambient      #braids      #autotune     
Comments
January 25th
11:33 PM
1 note
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: 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. 

#stag      #rifle meeker      #lived like string      #ambient     
Comments
December 30th
3:07 AM
3 notes
# ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 # What a great year 2011 has been for music, fascinating and fast moving as always. No amount of words will do having these top 50 records justice, but I felt that there’s nothing so impersonal as a list with no explanation. At the same time, writing about 50 albums has consumed so many hours of my time. These numberings aren’t infallible, nor are they particularly objective. Look at this post more as a collection of albums which excited me in 2011, and which formed the great part of my music taste for the year. Some of them I got totally absorbed by - lost inside. I hope that you’ll get something out of reading and listening - though I don’t expect anyone to read the whole thing. Opinions, thoughts, etc etc are all welcomed and encouraged.  SKIP TO TOP #15  #50 Walls - Coracle - Sunporch (MP3) Banjo Or Freakout’s Alessio Natalizia partners with one half of Allez-Allez to createWalls, who released their enchanting debut album ‘Coracle’ on Kompakt records towards the end of 2011, with accompanying tour. Its heated and swirling electronica which retains the gentle organic feel of his BOF solo project, but with an overbearing ambience and driving euphoric dance beat. You can stream the album in full here. #49 Korallreven - An Album By Korallreven - The Truest Faith (MP3) The debut full length release from Swedish tropical pop band Korallreven, featuring one half of The Radio Dept. as well as contributions from Taken By Trees’ Victoria Bergsman and American musician Julianna Barwick. Acephale Records released this LP in November, and it was championed all round for its blissful and expansive sound, infused with an icy electronic soundscapes, reggae rhythms and dense instrumentation.  #48 StaG - Rifle Meeker - Tired (MP3) StaG’s Rifle Meeker, an album recorded in Colorado (though lamenting a move from California), is notable not least for its instrumental use of floating reverb as very much part of the song structure. The melodies drift with a distant spiritual grandeur, evoking at times such a grey and colourless cloud but other times a rich gold and red as these compositions climax. ‘Tired’ pertains to a staccato tremolo for a wrangled and distorted opening, which at its mid-point speaks something of what I described above in its understated and softly spoken summits. Name your price at the StaG bandcamp.   #47 Jessica Jalbert - Brother Loyola - Necromancy (MP3) Edmonton, Canada presents Jessica Jalbert’s debut record, Brother Loyola - a playful cavort in to the realms of 60s girl groups (Paris Green), crunchy midwestern guitar tones and wallowing keyboard vibes (Any Day Soon). Necromancy is a song sunken in amongst a bed of strings, and picked up a wonderful remix from Born Gold’s Kuhrye-oo, cementing this one of Canada’s finest - presented by prolific local label Old Ugly. #46 Amen Dunes - Through Donkey Jaw - Christopher (MP3) Amen Dunes is the project of New York’s Damon McMahon, who on his return to the US after a brief two year spell in China in 2009, has begun to release music again, firstly with 2009’s DIA (on Locust Music), and now with 2011’s Through Donkey Jaw, a limited edition CD/LP release on NYC cult label Sacred Bones Records. Its a blend of distant post-punk music with a fluttering and reverb-soaked ambience, ‘Christopher’ recalling the glistening guitar tones of label-mates Crystal Stilts (who incidentally feature next), or even, perhaps, the visceral and tonal bedroom recording sound of Pure X. read #45 - #41 / skip to top #15

# ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 #

What a great year 2011 has been for music, fascinating and fast moving as always. No amount of words will do having these top 50 records justice, but I felt that there’s nothing so impersonal as a list with no explanation. At the same time, writing about 50 albums has consumed so many hours of my time. These numberings aren’t infallible, nor are they particularly objective. Look at this post more as a collection of albums which excited me in 2011, and which formed the great part of my music taste for the year. Some of them I got totally absorbed by - lost inside. I hope that you’ll get something out of reading and listening - though I don’t expect anyone to read the whole thing. Opinions, thoughts, etc etc are all welcomed and encouraged. 

SKIP TO TOP #15 

#50 Walls - Coracle - Sunporch (MP3)

Banjo Or Freakout’s Alessio Natalizia partners with one half of Allez-Allez to createWalls, who released their enchanting debut album ‘Coracle’ on Kompakt records towards the end of 2011, with accompanying tour. Its heated and swirling electronica which retains the gentle organic feel of his BOF solo project, but with an overbearing ambience and driving euphoric dance beat. You can stream the album in full here.

#49 Korallreven - An Album By Korallreven - The Truest Faith (MP3)

The debut full length release from Swedish tropical pop band Korallreven, featuring one half of The Radio Dept. as well as contributions from Taken By Trees’ Victoria Bergsman and American musician Julianna Barwick. Acephale Records released this LP in November, and it was championed all round for its blissful and expansive sound, infused with an icy electronic soundscapes, reggae rhythms and dense instrumentation. 

#48 StaG - Rifle Meeker - Tired (MP3)

StaG’s Rifle Meeker, an album recorded in Colorado (though lamenting a move from California), is notable not least for its instrumental use of floating reverb as very much part of the song structure. The melodies drift with a distant spiritual grandeur, evoking at times such a grey and colourless cloud but other times a rich gold and red as these compositions climax. ‘Tired’ pertains to a staccato tremolo for a wrangled and distorted opening, which at its mid-point speaks something of what I described above in its understated and softly spoken summits. Name your price at the StaG bandcamp.  

#47 Jessica Jalbert - Brother Loyola - Necromancy (MP3)

Edmonton, Canada presents Jessica Jalbert’s debut record, Brother Loyola - a playful cavort in to the realms of 60s girl groups (Paris Green), crunchy midwestern guitar tones and wallowing keyboard vibes (Any Day Soon). Necromancy is a song sunken in amongst a bed of strings, and picked up a wonderful remix from Born Gold’s Kuhrye-oo, cementing this one of Canada’s finest - presented by prolific local label Old Ugly.

#46 Amen Dunes - Through Donkey Jaw - Christopher (MP3)

Amen Dunes is the project of New York’s Damon McMahon, who on his return to the US after a brief two year spell in China in 2009, has begun to release music again, firstly with 2009’s DIA (on Locust Music), and now with 2011’s Through Donkey Jaw, a limited edition CD/LP release on NYC cult label Sacred Bones Records. Its a blend of distant post-punk music with a fluttering and reverb-soaked ambience, ‘Christopher’ recalling the glistening guitar tones of label-mates Crystal Stilts (who incidentally feature next), or even, perhaps, the visceral and tonal bedroom recording sound of Pure X.

read #45 - #41 / skip to top #15

#albumsof2011      #walls      #coracle      #kompakt      #korallreven      #an album by korallreven      #acephale records      #taken by trees      #stag      #rifle meeker      #jessica jalbert      #brother loyola      #born gold      #amen dunes     
Comments
May 17th
1:32 PM
9 notes
On Sunday I made my way down to the Netaudio event at the Roundhouse, a yearly event, conference, broadcast and live music convention for which my commissioned piece, a This Music Wins special outlining my thoughts on the stylistic future of experimental music on the internet, went out at 4.30pm via Roundhouse Radio and Resonance 104.4 FM London. You can listen again to the piece below, grab a zip file of all the compositions, or download them individually via tracklisting. Though trains prevented me from catching the headlining ‘Nurse With Wound’ at KOKO that evening, I did manage to catch an interesting set from abrasively captioned ‘Cuntbucket’ - who played a seemingly improvised and jazz-infused noise piece for around 40 minutes up in the open space. Check them out here. Listen to / download the broadcast (MP3) 1. Mount Kimbie - Maybes (MP3) 2. Dorian Concept - Forced Laughter Might Save Your Life (MP3) 3. Is And Of The - Sleepless Dream (MP3) 4. Kuhrye-oo - Soul Handsome (MP3) 5. Of Oceans - In Love, Not Limbo (MP3) 6. Joasihno - Von (MP3) 7. Fishing - White Sheet Beach (MP3) 8. Matthew Dear - Slowdance (How To Dress Well Seance) (MP3) 9. Ricky Eat Acid - Anxieties ft. Rachel Levy (MP3) 10. WU LYF - Concrete Gold (MP3) 11. StaG - Tired (MP3) 12. Woodsman - Chants (MP3) 13. Twin Sister - Milk & Honey (MP3) 14. Tamaryn - Sandstone (MP3) 15. Young Prisms - Breathless (MP3) 16. Carnivals - Leeda (MP3) 17. Gold Panda - Quitters Raga (MP3) 18. Mutual Benefit - Piano Experiments In An Abandoned Hospital (MP3)

On Sunday I made my way down to the Netaudio event at the Roundhouse, a yearly event, conference, broadcast and live music convention for which my commissioned piece, a This Music Wins special outlining my thoughts on the stylistic future of experimental music on the internet, went out at 4.30pm via Roundhouse Radio and Resonance 104.4 FM London. You can listen again to the piece below, grab a zip file of all the compositions, or download them individually via tracklisting. Though trains prevented me from catching the headlining ‘Nurse With Wound’ at KOKO that evening, I did manage to catch an interesting set from abrasively captioned ‘Cuntbucket’ - who played a seemingly improvised and jazz-infused noise piece for around 40 minutes up in the open space. Check them out here.

Listen to / download the broadcast (MP3)

1. Mount Kimbie - Maybes (MP3)

2. Dorian Concept - Forced Laughter Might Save Your Life (MP3)

3. Is And Of The - Sleepless Dream (MP3)

4. Kuhrye-oo - Soul Handsome (MP3)

5. Of Oceans - In Love, Not Limbo (MP3)

6. Joasihno - Von (MP3)

7. Fishing - White Sheet Beach (MP3)

8. Matthew Dear - Slowdance (How To Dress Well Seance) (MP3)

9. Ricky Eat Acid - Anxieties ft. Rachel Levy (MP3)

10. WU LYF - Concrete Gold (MP3)

11. StaG - Tired (MP3)

12. Woodsman - Chants (MP3)

13. Twin Sister - Milk & Honey (MP3)

14. Tamaryn - Sandstone (MP3)

15. Young Prisms - Breathless (MP3)

16. Carnivals - Leeda (MP3)

17. Gold Panda - Quitters Raga (MP3)

18. Mutual Benefit - Piano Experiments In An Abandoned Hospital (MP3)

#this music wins      #tumblrize      #carnivals      #cuntbucket      #dorian concept      #fishing      #gold panda      #how to dress well      #is and of the      #joasihno      #kuhrye-oo      #matthew dear      #mount kimbie      #mutual benefit      #of oceans      #ricky eat acid      #staG      #tamaryn      #twin sister      #woodsman      #wu lyf      #young prisms      #radioshow     
Comments
March 25th
12:11 PM
5 notes
This week’s show featuring the lossless noise pop from San Francisco band Young Prisms, I Don’t Get Much from their debut Kanine Records release ‘Friends For Now’. Also the spiritualist rework of Matthew Dear’s Slowdance by German producer How To Dress Well, and a track from High High’s upcoming record due 2011. A submission: we have StaG’s beautiful ‘Tired’, which I describe in full detail on Resonance this week, followed by a reminder of just how incredible Burial is in light of recent album announcements, and closing this week with New Beat from Toro Y Moi’s wonderful ‘Underneath The Pine’ which I got for my birthday. Enjoy. [LISTEN TO RESONANCE FM SATURDAY @ 6.30] Update: This show now goes out 2nd April. [DOWNLOAD MP3 OF SHOW ] 1. Young Prisms - I Don’t Get Much (MP3) 2. Matthew Dear - Slowdance (How To Dress Well Seance) (MP3) 3. High Highs - Horses (MP3) Tired by StaG 5. Burial - Etched Headplate (MP3) 6. Toro Y Moi - New Beat (MP3) Technorati Claim Code: 4Q9ZBFU8FA7R

This week’s show featuring the lossless noise pop from San Francisco band Young Prisms, I Don’t Get Much from their debut Kanine Records release ‘Friends For Now’. Also the spiritualist rework of Matthew Dear’s Slowdance by German producer How To Dress Well, and a track from High High’s upcoming record due 2011. A submission: we have StaG’s beautiful ‘Tired’, which I describe in full detail on Resonance this week, followed by a reminder of just how incredible Burial is in light of recent album announcements, and closing this week with New Beat from Toro Y Moi’s wonderful ‘Underneath The Pine’ which I got for my birthday. Enjoy.

[LISTEN TO RESONANCE FM SATURDAY @ 6.30]

Update: This show now goes out 2nd April.

[DOWNLOAD MP3 OF SHOW ]

1. Young Prisms - I Don’t Get Much (MP3)

2. Matthew Dear - Slowdance (How To Dress Well Seance) (MP3)

3. High Highs - Horses (MP3)

Tired by StaG

5. Burial - Etched Headplate (MP3)

6. Toro Y Moi - New Beat (MP3)

Technorati Claim Code: 4Q9ZBFU8FA7R

#this music wins      #tumblrize      #burial      #high highs      #how to dress well      #matthew dear      #staG      #toro y moi      #young prisms     
Comments