(Photo: Jonathan Leijonhufvud)
Usually people wheel out the steel pans when they want something to sound chill and summer and laid-back, but this AU remix of Wildbirds & Peacedrums, well... things get pretty dramatic. It's much more 'wildbird' than 'peacedrum', that's for sure; Mariam Wallentin switching up into full-on diva mode as those pans rattle nervously, strings panicking in the background. Find the new video for the original version of "My Heart" here.
Sounds Like: En Vogue, High Places, Micachu
Wildbirds & Peacedrums - My Heart (AU remix)
Previously:
Wildbirds & Peacedrums - I Can't Tell In His Eyes
Wildbirds & Peacedrums - Doubt/Hope
Wildbirds & Peacedrums' RCRD LBL Page
One of the best things about Hot Chip is when the beat drops and the tracks turn away from the party. It's in these low-lit moments - on "Made In The Dark", or "We're Looking For A Lot Of Love", for example - that bespectacled singer Alexis Taylor gets to indulge his fairly blatant inner diva and here, with his cover of Mike Bones' "What I Have Left", the Hot Chip man's in his element, cooing over a funereal drumbeat and downbeaten organ keys. The track will be released on the B-side of Bones' fantastically-titled new single "Today The World Is Worthy Of My Loathing", out May 11th through Vice.
Sounds Like: Celine Dion, Hot Chip, SALEM
Mike Bones - What I Have Left (Alexis Taylor Cover)
Previously:
Mike Bones - What I Have Left
Mike Bones - What I Have Left (Sian Alice Group Remix)
Mike Bones - What I Have Left (Brian Degraw Remix)
Mike Bones - What I Have Left (Silk Flowers Remix)
Mike Bones' RCRD LBL Page
As you may have gathered from the photograph, Anja Plaschg isn't the happiest of campers. The 18-year-old's stern Soap&Skin project wilts the soul with an eery, monochromatic misery somewhere between archetypal pop shrewishness and windswept post-rock; "The Sun" all doomed piano and ragged guitars, lyrics with nagging references to black holes and imminent death. It's as masterful a rendering of gloom as you'd expect from someone who'd grown up punk on an Austrian pig farm. The consensus seems to be that Plaschg might just be something of a genius - her debut album will look to reinforce that view upon its release next Monday, April 13 through PIAS.
Sounds Like: Björk, Fever Ray, Sibylle Baier
Soap&Skin - The Sun
Soap&Skin's RCRD LBL Page
The Prayers are blogging it up, having just featured a link to yet another teaser in anticipation of their new material. The band posted a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire”. It remains a super downer, but in a good way, the country guitars and harmonies creating a totally haunting atmosphere. Check out the Prayers’ RCRD LBL blog for the whole nine yards, and their MySpace for the tune.
Download: The Prayers - Bird on a Wire (via MySpace)
Bird on a Wire at the Prayers' RCRD LBL blog
Download: The Prayers - Clandestino
Download: The Prayers - Loose Lips
