ALBUM STREAM: Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse
Due to the intimate, privately-anthemic nature of his debut, Trevor Powers has some pressure to knock one out on his sophomore record as Youth Lagoon. Well, now you can stream Wondrous Bughouse in all its demented glory, and damn, it really delivers. The album is a sprawling 51-minute journey of gigantic melodies, funhouse mirrors, intimate daggers and soaring bedroom peaks that brings to mind early Flaming Lips, the fried-out onset of Pink Floyd and so much more. Throw on those headphones and turn it up!
On The RCRD: Youth Lagoon
Youth Lagoon is Trevor Powers – a Boise resident that has caused a stir over the last year with his endlessly catchy, uber-personal songs. We got him to go On The RCRD and tell us about how Kid A changed his life, his biggest influences, how teleportation could come in handy and why people should just step back and spend some time with records.
DOWNLOAD: Youth Lagoon - July
Youth Lagoon, a project from Boise bedroom popster Trevor Powers, understands the emotional heft that comes with a slow-burning crescendo. Take "July," which just received a surprisingly bloody video treatment. It's a reverb-drenched torch song that's perfect for a post-breakup drive through the mountains or napping in a pile of leaves. And of course, his aptly-named debut, The Year Of Hibernation, is out now via Fat Possum.
DOWNLOAD: Speculator - Blue Rose
Nicholas Ray was a legendary filmmaker whose most well-known opus, Rebel Without A Cause, was a comment on aimless childhood and the power of friendship. Don't confuse him with Nick Ray, he of the one-man act Speculator, even though they mine similar material. Speculator does the whole home-recorded thing where it sounds dubbed over the same tape five times already, but he's also the increasingly rare act where there are good songs buried beneath the affectations. "Blue Rose" keeps everything hazy and hypnotic but the guitars, which unleash with treble fury in a way that transitions '80s nostalgia to the early '90s. Grab his new album Nice on August 30 from Underwater Peoples.
