Rokia Traoré (#1 CMJ New World), Praised by The Telegraph, Performs for French TV
Rokia Traoré, whose album Né So hit the #1 spot on CMJ’s New World chart last week, recently performed two songs from the album on France’s Le Grand Journal television show. Nonesuch’s website has embeds of the two songs, “Ilé” and “Obiké,” which the Malian singer-songwriter performed with a colorful, energetic, and excitingly groovy band. Watch them […]
New Music from Chris Hunt
Chris Hunt is an Atlanta-based producer focused on the textural atmospheres of sound. From 2009 until 2013, he was one of the chief producers and driving forces behind Cloudeater, an eclectic and critically-acclaimed band that collaborated with Prefuse 73 and Wale and ended its run during what esteemed ATL music blog Latest Disgrace called “its […]
Billboard and The Verge Hype Star Wars Headspace
Last month, the Rick Rubin-helmed Star Wars Headspace project was released and, according to Billboard, “the force is strong” with the accomplished super-producer. The release features a Rubin-selected slate of star beatmakers turning in tracks that use the sounds of Star Wars to create unexpected new musical gems. Billboard has streams of three tracks, from […]
The Donkeys Get Love from WRUV and KLHK
The Donkeys‘ Midnight Palms has been exciting DJs across the US with its laid-back vibes and undeniable catchiness. Bernie Sanders‘ hometown station WRUV added the album, with the reviewer writing that all of its songs are great and worthy of airplay. Check out that review right here. KJHK, of Lawrence, Kansas, is also digging the record. Their […]
New Music from Walden – Digital Servicing Only
Walden creates contemplative, atmospheric indie rock imbued with a sense of hopefulness. On their debut EP Apollo, the Calgary-based quartet explores the resonance of the past on the present and the alienating effects of technology with acoustic guitar and piano-led songs that respond to the emotional isolation of urban living with a message of solidarity […]
KWCW Interviews The Cave Singers
Walla Walla’s KWCW has been supporting The Cave Singers‘ Banshee LP, and the station recently conducted a phone interview with the band’s singer Peter Quirk. Clocking in at almost 25 minutes, the conversation is notable for how informed and enthusiastic the station’s DJs are about the Cave Singers and the folky Seattle scene from which […]
Glint Streams Album on PureVolume
After a protracted buildup that began last summer with the Introvert EP and continued with autumn’s Extrovert EP, Glint‘s long-awaited album Inverter has arrived and is currently streaming on PureVolume. “Making a record is never easy,” the site says, “and for Glint, the latest one proved to be especially ambitious… Songs like the anthemic ‘Daydreamers,’ […]
Naked Giants Talk to Do206, Play SXSW
“We are all three best friends,” said Naked Giants’ singer/guitarist Grant Mullen in an interview last year with the Do206. “So we connect on a level that goes beyond the just the music we play, and translates into what we end up creating.” Throughout the interview, conducted in anticipation of the band’s performance at the Sound […]
Glint Goes for Adds
Glint’s Introvert and Extrovert EPs, released last fall and played at stations all around the country, were prefaces to Inverter, the band’s new full-length album. To write the music, band mastermind Jase Blankfort set up his equipment in a group of empty warehouses in Nyack, New York and allowed the immense spaces to shape the […]
Naked Giants and The Jigsaw Seen Travel to Austin for SXSW
No one from our office will be in Austin for this year's South by Southwest, but AmApAc artists Naked Giants and The Jigsaw Seen are traveling to Texas for the country's premiere music festival. These are the shows you should try to catch if you're heading to the Lone Star State this week: Naked Giants […]
The Guardian Reviews Rokia Traoré – Twice! Né So Goes for #1 at CMJ New World!
The Guardian loves Rokia Traoré so much that the paper has not one but two different reviews of her new album Né So on its website — and in each review, it gets four out of five stars! Reviewer Neil Spencer writes that “the Malian singer continues to cut a singular trajectory through modern music” with Né So. […]
Stereo Embers Premieres the black watch’s “Beautiful Sleeper”
the black watch has issued a clip for Highs and Lows opening track “Beautiful Sleeper,” and Stereo Embers has the premiere. In the video, band mastermind John Andrew Fredrick puts his years of working as a writing professor to work as he quickly scrawls the song’s lyrics on a chalkboard. “But the primary attraction here is songcraft, […]
New Music from Glint!
Glint’s Introvert and Extrovert EPs, released last fall and played at stations all around the country, were prefaces to Inverter, the band’s new full-length album. To write the music, band mastermind Jase Blankfort set up his equipment in a group of empty warehouses in Nyack, New York and allowed the immense spaces to shape the […]
The Cave Singers Share “Christmas Night” with Stereogum
Stereogum has a premiere of “Christmas Night,” the second single from The Cave Singers‘ new Banshee LP. Though it’s now springtime, the site says that this is “one of those Christmas songs that works for all seasons, more about the emotions surrounding the event than ol’ Saint Nick himself, and the Seattle rockers recount one […]
Pitchfork Loves Star Wars Headspace; Rolling Stone Goes Behind the Scenes
Star Wars Headspace “crackles with adolescent exuberance, thanks to a well-chosen roster of producers,” writes Pitchfork in its recent review of the Rick Rubin-curated project that finds top beatmakers like Flying Lotus, GTA, Rustie, Kaskade, Baauer, Claude VonStroke, A-Trak, and more putting their spin on the iconic film franchise by employing its bleeps, bloops, and Wookie […]
Buzzbands interviews the black watch; Blurt reviews Highs and Lows
Highs and Lows, released in 2015 by Los Angeles favorites the black watch, has been called “probably the best thing we’ve heard this year from an artist who calls Echo Park home” by Kevin Bronson of Buzzbands. It’s a high compliment from Bronson, who has been digesting the LA neighborhood’s musical output for almost 15 […]
Luke Top is Featured in Spin, Noisey, and Pitchfork
Spin has given its seal of approval to Suspect Highs, the new solo LP from longtime Fool’s Gold leader Luke Top. The magazine calls the album, which finds Top veering towards a more low-key sound than the worldbeat indie pop of Fool’s Gold, “a sometimes jazzy, other times rockabilly, all the time arresting affair.” According to […]
the black watch Goes For Adds
Highs and Lows, the 13th album from Los Angeles’ venerable the black watch, documents a long-running band that has been rejuvenated. Songwriter John Andrew Fredrick, who has helmed the cult favorites since 1987, didn’t intend to so quickly follow up the 2015 black watch LP Sugarplum Fairy, Sugarplum Fairy. That record was intended as his final album, […]
Luke Top Goes for Adds
As the singer and co-founder of Fool’s Gold, a band that has been blending African dance music and New Wave pop stylings since 2009, Luke Top has achieved international acclaim and toured all around the world. He’s also collaborated with an impressive array of artists including Papercuts and Cass McCombs. Yet on Suspect Highs, Top […]
The So So Glos Go For Adds with Songs from Upcoming Kamikaze LP
On Kamikaze, The So So Glos’ follow-up to 2013’s critically-acclaimed Blowout, the darks are darker, the lights are lighter, the loud is louder, and the quiet is quieter. Recorded with John Reis (Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes) and mixed by Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, Cursive), the LP finds the band narrowing its focus, kicking […]
