PREMIERE: Lotus - The Surf
.jpg)
My first exposure to Lotus was in college through a friend who listened to a lot of jam bands and hip-hop. He would forever steal the iPod to put the band on at parties, and I have to say, it was always a good move. His taste in music was a fitting measure of the group’s appeal, who has managed to bridge the space between jam culture and an array of other styles. While the four-piece mostly sticks to instrumentals, “The Surf” happens to feature vocals and tips a clever hat at the genre with which it shares a name, weaving that signature guitar sound within the song’s electronic, funk and dance base. Catch the band tonight at San Francisco’s Outside Lands, and grab their self-titled LP out September 13 on Boulder’s SCI Fidelity.
DOWNLOAD: Bad Rabbits - Can't Back Down + Stick Up Kids (Full Version Demo)
Did you miss Afro-punk this weekend? You know, the African-American minded rock fest from which Santigold, The Noisettes and Janelle Monae sprang, and Saul Williams tends to grace each year? If so, quit beating yourself up and revel in this tasty sampler from Bad Rabbits—a freaky funk band that very simply sounds…like Prince. Want more? A compilation featuring too many excellent acts to count lives right here.
Bad Rabbits - Stick Up Kids (Full Version Demo)
DOWNLOAD: Cortney Tidwell - 17 Horses
Forceful is not an adjective often used to describe Cortney Tidwell's music, but her forthcoming album, Boys, is likely to change all that. In one track, "17 Horses," the Nashville-based singer leaps upon listeners to deliver eerie coos and hair-raising siren calls. All the while the stomping drums, nerve-wracking jolts of guitar and almost buried piano of her backing band steadily turn up the tension before reaching an almost unbearably anxious climax. Only moments later the group is whisked away in the shadows, echoes in its wake, listeners left to catch their breaths and crave the next song. This is not the Cortney Tidwell you remembered, just the one you will remember.
Sounds like: White Light/White Heat-era Velvet Underground, Mazzy Star on amphetamines, Mogwai
Cortney Tidwell's RCRD LBL Page
EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD: Kuniyuki - Birds (Tony Lionni & Tokyo Black Star Remixes)
Musical minds from all over the world have coalesced around the inventive sounds created by Kuniyuki Takahashi. He doesn't sound anything like the producers who lined up to remix his body of work, preferring free-flowing, organically sourced jams (guitars! flutes! real drums!) held together by synth jelly to the usual 4x4 structure. But even Theo Parrish, Henrik Schwarz, Cobblestone Jazz, Chateau Flight, Tokyo Black Star, A Mountain of One, and Tony Lionni -- the cast behind Remixed -- need to free their minds every now and again. Those in need of a bit of mind-expansion should check out these remixes of Kuniyuki's "Birds," both which remain relatively faithful to the piano-laden original with certain twists. Tony Lionni revels in the tune's earthiness and plays up the piano, which floats on a bed of soothing pads and lilting flute. Diametrically different, Tokyo Black Star opts for synths and charges to the dance floor, aided by a cavalry of digital claps, bongos and segmented bass line. It's a nice contrast of spiritual tension and physical release.
Sounds like: Henrik Schwarz, Chateau Flight, Francois K
Download: Kuniyuki - Birds (Tony Lionni Remix)
Download: Kuniyuki - Birds (Tokyo Black Star Remix)
DOWNLOAD: I Led 3 Lives - Dragracing
The walloping tribal electro-jazz of I Led 3 Lives’ “Dragracing” is about the closest thing auto sports and psychedelia have in common today. Swirling like smoke signals around a brisk amalgam of skittering breakbeats and Tony Williams-worthy chops, the guitars, keys, and bass of this New York trio build and build for nigh on six minutes here, pausing only to let one another breathe before dunking themselves back into the bubbling madness. I Led 3 Lives—possibly named after a short-lived fifties TV series?—just put out a record called Peace Now (word) on New York's Nublu, the label associated with the East Village space of the same name. If anyone’s caught the house band playing some of their marathon jam sessions in there on a Saturday night, you know what you’re in for here: pure intoxicating virtuosity.
Sounds like: Brazilian Girls, Secret Machines, The Tony Williams Lifetime
Download: I Led 3 Lives - Dragracing
EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOAD: Whalebones - Another Jungle
We first laid eyes on Whalebones last April from the back of a heady Big Sur roadhouse called Fernwood. It was the Folk Yeah Spring Festival and the band was from Seattle. And like any Northwest rock outfit worth their salt, they took their noodles crunchy, closed their eyes and used that wailer girlie harmony to absolute perfection. Very Crazy Horse. Borderline epic. Not to cop out or anything, but they're the kinda songs that you'd imagine sound their best in a van on a sunny day, close to some water. We're so so psyched, not only to get exclusive access to "Another Jungle," but to get lowdowns on both downloads from Whalebones songwriter, Justin Deary. Go ahead and freak out.
DOWNLOAD: Whalebones - Another Jungle
DOWNLOAD: Whalebones - Don't You Know
Read on and get the story on both songs, directly from the band
