Pias Label Releases
Monday, 26 September
Featured Download
Recorded over two years in their new North London studio, this album finds Plaid in fine form, offering up some of their most generously melodic and even poppy work to date. With its bucolic chamber instrumentation (is that a harp we hear?) and woozy vocal tones, opener 'Missing' could almost be Stereolab, while 'Unbank' has the progged-out vibe of Plaid's younger labelmate Hudson Mohawke, albeit with krautrock rather than R&B as its underpinning, and the lurching, high-intensity arpeggios and low-slung rhythm of 'Talk To Us' remind us of nothing so much as Rustie's 'Bad Science'. There are a few ear-catching murkier numbers too: 'Eye … Read more
RONNY & RENZO
Heartbreak Theme (Carl Craig Mix)
REKIDS
MP3 Download // £1.49
FLAC Download // £2.49
Cat. Number: REKIDS056D
Featured Download
Slow, systolic Techno epic from the elusive Belgian duo behind King Kung Foo Records, backed with an opulent Carl Craig remix. That original's a real scene stealer, paced at a purposefully throbbing 105bpm to intense effect. Evidently Carl Craig has spent some time on the remix, two years apparently, and by the time the Vangelis-style synth brass is at full peak, you can see it was worth it.
ROOTS MANUVA
Get the Get (Breakage / Slugabed Mixes)
Big Dada
MP3 Download // £2.95FLAC Download // £3.95
Cat. Number: BDDNL188
Featured Download
Manuva in party mode with 'Get The Get' taken from his '4everevolution' album. Breakage weighs in with a much cooler Junglist remix, holding it back inna liquid synths and rollin' breaks/bass fashion, but the one to watch is Slugabed, injecting some '80s-Boogie-meets-2011-IDM swivel, all dynamic, hypercoloured synth melodies and controlled rhythm pressure for the swingers.
REMEMBER REMEMBER
Rock Action Records
MP3 Download // £4.99FLAC Download // £5.99
Cat. Number: ROCKACT60D
Featured Download
Kicking off with ‘White Castle’ which sounds something like Emeralds covering Steve Reich, it’s hard what to make of Rock Action’s Remember Remember. It’s Krautrock, but not like any Krautrock you’ve heard before – the extensive many-membered act is too scattershot to succumb to such simple classification. Occasionally they sound more like Bo Hansson or David Axelrod, at others more aligned with the post rock of label bosses Mogwai. What I can say though is that ‘The Quickening’ is a fantastically arresting record, with all the emotional heft and soundtrack-laced qualities you’d hope from an instrumental record. This i… Read more
Featured Download
**Deluxe Edition featuring bonus tracks, b-sides and remixes** Having previous appeared on the Manimal Vinyl label, all-girl LA quartet Warpaint release their debut album for Rough Trade, produced by Tom Biller (Karen O, Liars) with mixing from Andrew Weatherall and Adam Samuels (Willie Nelson, Pearl Jam). The band have attracted a certain amount of buzz in the build up to this release, thanks in part to high profile touring slots with the likes of The xx, The Walkmen, Yeasayer and Band Of Horses. Unusually for a record steeped in a certain amount of hype, The Fool is a fairly understated affair that announces itsel… Read more
Featured Download
Includes a Tiesto remix...
“If Alan Vega was 40 years younger, he'd be doing this. Or if they remade Blue Velvet, this could work as the soundtrack” - The Guardian Names like Arthur Russell or Beck get cited often as influences, but it is rare that upon listening to a modern artist you feel the genre-fusing depth of either of these legends. New Jersey’s Caged Animals are the exception to the rule. Smudged round the edges, shrouded in shadows and fog, but full to bursting with heart and soul, Vincent Cacchione offers swoon-some pop, unafraid to deal with the depths of emotion, or to put the song at the forefront… Read more
FLOWERS AND SEA CREATURES
BUZZIN' FLY
MP3 Download // £7.99FLAC Download // £8.99
Cat. Number: CD010FLYD
"Debut album from acclaimed Montreal alt-electronica duo Flowers And Sea Creatures, coproduced with Ewan Pearson (Delphic / The Rapture / Kompakt), The Revenge and Fred Everything."
Review to follow shortly…
Monday, 19 September
Kieran Hebden's FabricLive mix was always going to be a big deal and sure enough he's delivered the goods, turning out a 27-track session that tracks his interest in garage, UK Funky and latterday bass musics alongside more Continental house and techno styles (and beyond). It's impeccably mixed, of course, but instead of going for a seamless journey from start to finish, he's broken things up with a clutch of field recordings taken at the club; these interludes are intended to replicate the experience of moving from room to room in Fabric's labyrinthine underground space. Anyway, what matt… Read more
Superb new album of industrial-strength drone, art-techno, noise and moody synth experimentation from Roly Porter, formerly of Vex'd, returning to his Bristol home of Subtext. Operating in a similar sphere to the last Subtext drop from Emptyset, Porter mines a rich seam of eerie, corrosive greyscale and moreover heavy, righteously dub-wise electronics, with a warped but careful sense of modern classical composition: in short, the perfect soundtrack to wandering the creaking corridors of the Event Horizon. This really is one of the most suffocatingly atmospheric records we've heard all year,… Read more
STATELESS / BLUE DAISY
I'm On Fire (Blue Daisy / Slugabed Mixes)
Ninja Tune
MP3 Download // £3.50FLAC Download // £4.50
Cat. Number: ZENDNLS290
I'm On Fire' is an epic and string-heavy duet between Stateless and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond. It was an obvious highlight of the debut Stateless album 'Matilda', and came about after the group's mainman Chris James noticed Shara during a TV recording, and promptly wrote a bespoke duet . A recording session in Brooklyn later, and some lush sympnoic embellishments from Gillian Wood, Matt Robinson and Mike Reed, and the track hits home with a poignant emotive impact. Remixing, Blue Daisy laces the track with Portishead-like drums and a much dark… Read more
**Note: A-side formerly known as 'Here Come The Lights' as seen on vinyl edition** Everyone's favourite west country rudeboy returns with the second single from his upcoming debut album for 4AD, a bombastic and undeniable pop banger sung by Silas. Joker's synths have never sounded so wilfully OTT, and they actually work a treat here, working in super-tight tandem with ruff, reduced drums to counterpoint the X Factor-friendly vocals; it's similar in sound and spirit to the recent 'The Vision', undoubtedly that of a producer with one eye on daytime radio-play, and fair enough. Fan… Read more
KID KOALA
Space Cadet: Original Still Picture Score
Ninja Tune
MP3 Download // £6.99FLAC Download // £8.99
Cat. Number: ZENDNL174
Lovely, imaginative and incredibly mature soundtrack work from the ever-unpredictable KK, with cut 'n paste hip-hop dispensed in favour of serene, cinematic chamber classical pieces that summon Max Richter and Johann Johansson. There's a real sense of optimism and wonder to these pieces, a bit of a relief from the by-numbers melancholy pastures usually occupied by neo-classical gear; and while the weight is carried largely by strings, horns and marimba, what makes it truly special is the discreet turntablism and electronic treatments, which add real depth and at… Read more
I still remember hearing Throwing Muses for the first time, and somehow even fifteen years later the band sound just as beguiling as they did back then. ‘Anthology’ is not a greatest hits collection and neither does it compile the entire recorded history of the band, instead it offers a place to start for interested new fans and a handful of rarities for the initiates. The meat of the collection comes from the band’s fruitful late-80s output, and while the tracks come from all over the shop there’s a real sense of coherence to the flow. It sounds like whoever hand picked these tracks rea… Read more
Fresh from opening Ninja Tune's XX compilation and currently soundtracking a worldwide marketing campaign for Adidas, Amon Tobin and Joe “Doubleclick” Chapman unleash the mighty 'Fools Rhythm' from his forthcoming new album. Forward, synth-driven HipHop/IDM in Amon's typical style.
After a string of disco-leaning releases for Internasjonal, Mirau and Dirt Crew, Mano Le Tough tries his hand at a sort of discofied Tech-House Pop with fine results. A-side 'Stories' is a real treat, glowing with lovely synth arrangement and unhurried modern disco rhythm creating the right atmosphere for that poignant vocal hook to leave its mark. 'From The Start' is a touch darker, experimenting with slightly more shoegazy vocal and guitar textures, but with rogue Disco Techno elements for the 'floor, while 'Take It Back' is a sprawling mid-tempo kosmiche-House burner recommended to any fans of Kompakt acts such as Walls or The Field.
Review to follow shortly…
Monday, 12 September
CANT is the new project from Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor in collaboration with Twin Shadow's George Lewis Jr, and Dreams Come True is their first full-length offering. With their employment of R&B tropes and hard-snapping syn-drums coupled with classic pop songwriting, CANT are to Grizzly Bear what Discovery were to Vampire Weekend (kind of). But where Discovery's self-titled LP was a celebratory record, Dreams Come True feels more plaintive and wounded, and it also paints from a far wider and more sophisticated musical palette. You really don't know what you're going to get from one moment… Read more
DEMDIKE STARE
Demdike Stare Supports Finders Keepers: Make Do & Mend 02
Finders Keepers Records
MP3 Download // £3.99FLAC Download // £4.99
SOUNDTRACKS / LIBRARY / EARLY ELECTRONIC
Cat. Number: HELPFK002DL
*Features two new and exclusive edits made by Demdike Stare, plus a selection of label rarities and gems selected by them* Demdike Stare compile the second crackin' 'Make Do And Mend' selection from the Finders Keepers catalogue, including two totally exclusive edits and a sneak preview of the forthcoming Jean Rollin OST 'Fascination'. Making an outlandish entrance with their 'Double Drop Crash Edit' of a recent fave, Billy Green's 'Toadstrip' from the 'Stone' OST, Vangelis' 'The Dragon' bridges the way to their 2nd edit, the 'Les Vampires Emeu… Read more
Wiley's funniest, funkiest single this year, the snapping 808 romp 'Link Up', comes backed with a crispy, swaggering Alex D remix. Instrumental usefully included for the DJs.
A bit of grandstanding romanticism from Scotland's finest, with sweeping chamber instrumentation favoured over guitar shredding. 'Get To France' is an unreconstructed bit of neo-classical music, though it has something of the sinister, occult cabaret vibe of Coil and Kreng about it too. 'Hound Of Winter' pursues a nice vision of country-soul, all downhome acoustic guitars, twinkling pianos and harmonica; when the strings enter from the wings, it's easy to see this as the Mogs' response to the time-honoured American orch-pop tradition, from Jimmy Webb on through to Jim O'Rourke. 'Drunk An… Read more
This two-hitter of remixes comes as a tidy taster of Warpaint’s killer LP ‘The Fool’. The all-girl LA quartet have garnered plenty of attention touring with The xx and Zola Jesus, and ‘Undertow’ might be their best tune to date. Here we find mysterious producer Night Plane (aka William Raucher) stretching the original into a hypnotic eight plus minutes of transcendent New York house music. Letting the deadpan vocal he manages to conjure up boozy images of clubs been and gone, and channels post-punk without resorting to the usual ‘angular’ clichés. On the flip we get a sleazy version fro… Read more
Coming across like a weird hybrid of Dirty Projectors, Tom Waits and Susanna and the Magical Orchestra (really), ‘Strange Mercy’ is the third full-length from St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark). It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting either, with the critical (and most likely commercial, although I don’t have numbers in hand…) success of ‘Actor’, I wrongly assumed that Clark would ditch all her avant leanings in favour of some kind of post-Feist Levis fest, and that’s not even close to what we have on ‘Strange Mercy’. Rather Clark has honed her songwriting skills and allowed her imagination… Read more
San Francisco indie types Girls might want to think their sound is indebted to the glory days of Neil Young, Randy Newman and The Beach Boys, but while those comparisons aren’t a million miles away, I hear a lot more of the 90s than the 60s in their pop nuggets. There’s a sense that these guys didn’t just grow up through that decade, but grabbed onto every bit of rock history they could; there’s a bit of latter day metal, a sprinkling of the kind of slacker indie that made Pavement shine, a wink to grunge and even a knowledge of Brit Pop that gets thrown into a blender and ground to p… Read more
JARVIS COCKER
Jarvis Cocker Supports Finders Keepers: Make Do & Mend 01
Finders Keepers Records
MP3 Download // £3.99
FLAC Download // £4.99
Cat. Number: HELPFK001DL
Cocker kicks off a collectable series of bargain-priced Finders Keepers compilations made to support the label in light of the recent warehouse fire at PIAS' North London depot. A long time fan of the label and their doings, he was granted full access to rifle their catalogue and he's picked some absolute treats for ya, including, if we're not mistaken, some which have never appeared on CD before. To start there's the perspicacious poetics of Carol Batten's 'Beeing', besides the legendary pseudo J-Pop of Yamasuki (made by none other than Thomas… Read more
‘Gangsta’ was easily my pick from Tune-Yards’ acclaimed ‘Whokill’ album which appeared earlier this year, and now it’s getting the single treatment it deserves. While some might still struggle with Merrill Garbus’s sandy delivery and hiccupping lyrical tics, nobody can argue with the hooks and genuine post-punk attitude on ‘Gangsta’. Even more interesting though is that the remixes come from Beastie Boy Ad Rock and turntablist extraordinaire Cut Chemist. Ad Rock is on form at the minute and his squelchy downtempo mix somehow brings to mind mid-90s Warp era electronica, while never losing its r… Read more
Review to follow shortly…
Review to follow shortly…
"Hot on the heels of acclaim from Pitchfork, Stereogum and various other dot-com entities, Toronto two-piece Memoryhouse make their Sub Pop debut with ‘The Years’, a mini album containing their 2010 digital-only, self-released EP fully re-recorded, remixed and remastered, plus the new tracks ‘Modern, Normal’ and ‘Quiet America’. The five tracks form a cohesive set of gorgeous, ethereal synth-pop songs, all of which are seeing their first release on CD or LP. ‘The Years’ was re-recorded and mixed by Evan Abeele with the help of Daniel Gray in Toronto."
