DATE ARCHIVES : June 2016

Introducing: Kayla Painter

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Kayla Painter is a Bristol based musician who crafts inventive, experimental and ambient soundscapes.

Signed to Turnstile Music, Painter’s sound draws from techno, garage and post dub, to create intricate, intriguing and curious compositions of restless rhythms, surging deep bass lines and warm flourishes of ethereal ambience. Painter’s latest single, ‘Drones’ demonstrates just that, and more. It is a lush, densely layered piece of ambient excellence, that is beautiful, graceful and bewitching as it glistens with exquisite majesty. Similar exalted praise can be bestowed upon the twitchy, twinkly and divine previous single, ‘Revert’. Also worth your attention is collaborative single ‘Avallaunius’, which saw Painter team up with ex-Trwbador member Accü and released on Turnstile Music in January. This is all rather sublime; music get lost in and simultaneously to be amazed by.

‘Drones’ was released just this week, you check out Painter’s excellent self-directed video below, along with a number of other, choice cuts.

Introducing: Class Portrait

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Class Portrait is the moniker of New York-based, electronic, indie-pop project fronted by Michael Vaughan.

Previously he had been making his way in the world as house music producer, with a number releases on labels in the UK and Portugal to his name, before trading it in, and stripping down the sound to a guitar, vocal, and a drum machine. Or, in his own words; “a man, a guitar, a drum machine and a dream”. This new project may be in its infancy and judging by his by his debut EP Time Zones, the dream is alive a well. Take title track ‘Time Zones’ for instance. Vaughan’s hushed vocals ride a wave of electronic flourishes and swells of synth, effects and electronics, while the steady beat anchors the slinking, meandering groove. Combined, they ooze an aura of smooth, coolness. ‘Close To Me’ offers indie-electronica from the other end of the spectrum. Uptempo and driven, with a meaty guitar chugging its way through snappy beats and gushes of synth/electronics, while Vaughan’s vocals remain calm, cool and hushed. Bursting with creativity and ideas, Class Portrait’s debut is a wholly irresistible and inspired collection of splendid indie-electronica.

You can check out ‘Time Zones’ and ‘Close To Me’ below and if they are to your satisfaction, you can find the full Time Zones EP, here.

Public Service Broadcasting to Release ‘The Race For Space / Remixes’ & Share Boxed In’s ‘Valentina’ Remix

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Released last year, The Race For Space, was a rocket-fuelled triumph for Public Service Broadcasting, spectacularly relaying the wonder, awe, glamour and the tragedy of the space race.

Following up their stellar second album PSB are releasing The Race For Space / Remixes on June 17th. It will feature twelve reworked and re-imagined versions of their work, including remixes from Field Music, Boxed In, Vessels, Dutch Uncles, Robert Babicz, Maps and more. Before getting its full and official release, PSB have kindly afforded us a glimpse of what wonderment may lay ahead, coming in the shape of Boxed In’s reworking of ‘Valentina (ft. Smoke Fairies)’. London-based quartet Boxed In – headed up by Oli Bayston – is normally on point, be it remixes or their own work, and here, Bayston & Co. serve a sublimely sparkling piece of awe-inspiring electronica. Spurred onward by a mildly propulsive groove, it weaves delicately through the crystalline production, snappy percussion and bouts of euphoria. Incredible.

‘The Race For Space / Remixes’ is out on June 17th – you can check out Boxed In’s stunning rework of ‘Valentina’ below.

Millions Like Us Podcast – Episode #17

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We’re thrilled to share yet another Millions Like Us with you all, Episode #17!

Every two weeks, Justin & I, in conjunction with Vancouver news & culture site 604now, aim to deliver an eclectic and hand-picked selection of top class music. There’s plenty to chew on with #17, almost an hour & a half, of great tunes and plenty of chat, on all manner of topics and music including festivals; as we talk Music Waste and Levitation Vancouver.

You can read more on it over here and of course, listen below (and the tracklist (with links) is after the jump too). You can subscribe to ‘Millions Like Us’ on iTunes & Podcast Republic, Mixcloud & SoundCloud, or find us on Facebook & Twitter. Or you can email us at millionslikeuspodcast[at]gmail[dot]com.

As mentioned previously, Justin has been busy compiling tracks featured in the series. If you’re a Spotify user, then you can access this 6 hours plus playlist here.

Continue reading →

Pi Ja Ma – ‘Radio Girl’

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Surely there is always room for some pitch perfect pop perfection in our lives? Step forward please, Pi Ja Ma.

Pi Ja Ma, the moniker of French artist and singer Pauline de Tarragon, who crafts ’60s influenced Alt-Pop. ‘Radio Girl’ marks Tarragon’s first venture into the music world, and is the first single taken from her forthcoming debut EP of the same name. Super, super catchy, ‘Radio Girl’ channels ’60s pop along with shades of contemporary indie pop, as the dreamy instrumentation lays a perfect backdrop for Tarragon’s full vocals. To put it simply, this is catchy, playful candied pop and you know, sometimes that is quite enough.

Pi Ja Ma’s debut EP Radio Girl is penned for release on 15th July via Bleepmachine. For now, well you can sample the delightful sounds of the title-track below.

Melody’s Echo Chamber Shares Previously Unreleased Tracks

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Unfortunately haven’t heard from Melody’s Echo Chamber in a while, far too long in fact. It has been four long years since Paris’ Melody Prochet endeared herself to the world with her sublime debut LP. Sadly since then, all we’ve had in the way of new material is dreamy 2014 single ‘Shirim‘.

Last week however, Ms. Prochet kindly uploaded four previously unreleased Melody’s Echo Chamber demos to SoundCloud, and judging by the tags, they would seem to have been recorded in 2013 with, and feature Tame Impala‘s Kevin Parker. The pick of the bunch are ‘Pêcheuse De Lune’ and ‘From Pink They Fell Into Blue’, which like her debut, maintain those hazy, psychedelic vibes. At times everything is covered with a lovely blanket of reverb and fuzz, with only Prochet’s honeyed, inviting vocals cutting through the haze. Shimmering psychedelic dream-pop of the finest variety, that finds the sweet spot between between the two, perfectly. Nice as it is to hear these tracks, hopefully we get a new Melody’s Echo Chamber record in the not so distant future. Here’s hoping anyway.

You can enjoy ‘Pêcheuse De Lune’ & ‘From Pink They Fell Into Blue’ below now or head over here, for all four.

BarryGruff May 2016 Playlist

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Your regular monthly round up all the blog action, in a nice, neat and handy playlist of tracks featured throughout the month.

May was good, as was the weather but even better tunes and whatnot (although I was pretty busy with matters away from the blog). We had loads of great new tracks, with a cursory listen below, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree! Oh, and there were new episodes of ‘Millions Like Us’, Justin Beats & I’s music podcast for 604now (if you missed them, check ’em here). You can also subscribe to ‘Millions Like Us’ on iTunes & Podcast Republic or find us on Facebook & Twitter.

Well then, that’s that for another month – listen to BarryGruff’s May 2016 playlist below. Enjoy!