DOWNLOAD: Zs - 33~
You will turn on “33~” expecting it to break from its buzzing intro into a chorus. It never does, however, and such tension is the beauty of New York’s Zs. Mixing digital and real sounds, guitar and sax, kit and sticks into an amorphous instrument all its own, the avant-gardists thrive on the outskirts of various genres — the kind of chaos that asks harnessed free jazz or improvised composition. Either way, there is a poignancy behind each bleep, and the minimalist clang of “33~” leaves you with a sense of completion richer than any bridge will grant you. The track can be found on double 7-inch 33, out November 8 on Northern Spy.
EXCLUSIVE STREAM: Zomby - Polka Dot + Helter Skelter Download
What do Zombys dream? Do they dream of being sucked into bloodthirsty vortices of colour, ailing machinery and "Polka Dot" and "Helter Skelter" working their way out from the cities to the suburbs where they force people to dance new, disjointed dances in sticky-floored provincial nightclubs? Will shit like this ever sound anything other that future? Come find me and let me know in 40 years time. I'll be the one wearing the silver space suit.
Sounds Like: Rustie, FaltyDL, Darkstar
DOWNLOAD: Gentle Friendly - Clean Breaker
"Ride Symbols", "Ride Around Shining", Ride Slow. London-based pair Gentle Friendly seem preoccupied with riding, regardless of who or why or how. They appear to just want to ride, as if the simple desire for motion is in itself enough. That much is evident in most things they commit to tape, it all being hyperactive and propelled by drums and toy organs resigned long ago to providing joy doses and the same is true of "Clean Breaker", one of the first tracks to emerge from aforementioned new album Ride Slow, riding out through Upset! The Rhythm on October 19.
Sounds Like: the new No Age EP, The Wannadies, Charles Hayward
Gentle Friendly - Clean Breaker
Previously:
Gentle Friendly - Ride Symbols
Gentle Friendly - Ride Around Shining
Gentle Friendly's RCRD LBL Page
DOWNLOAD: Hashim B. - Tokyo to LA Steez
Hashim B. is a tricky one to track. That photo up there is the only one we could find of him and he doesn't particularly look like he wanted to be found, eyes dark and half-hidden behind baseball cap. His midnight hip-hop beats are similarly evasive, clad in thick, dark layers of synth hum and floating sonic ephemera, Hashim B., you imagine, hiding somewhere at the centre. The track's from a new Dublab comp and Dublab are easier to find - one of the internet's greatest gifts is the ability it gives you to type 'dublab.com' into the address bar and hear music that will endlessly and undoubtedly amaze you. The same, of course, can be said of the new comp - Echo Expansion is out through Porter Records on the 18th of August.
Sounds Like: Madlib, Flying Lotus, J Dilla
DOWNLOAD: Tartufi - Dot Dash
Tartufi are a raucous, restless pair. It wanders off down so many side streets that it's hard to classify, but "Dot Dash" - taken from recent album Nests Of Waves And Wire - is atypical post-rock, basically - atypical in the fact that it's not skull-suckingly boring or obsessed with its own prowess. Instead, guitarist/vocalist/pedal-stomper Lynne Angel and drummer Brian Gorman use their powers for good, urging the listener down said side streets, erupting there illicitly with buoyant vocal oddness and soft lilts of metal-petal fret-work. When they're not jamming hard, Angel and Gorman run what's been described by their label Southern as "a rock n' roll school for kids" called Saturday Morning Rock Out - Tartufi could well be a product of their own teaching, injecting staid post-rock formulas with a youthful thirst for kicks.
Sounds Like: Asobi Seksu, Autolux, Animal Collective
