Hear a new track from former Girls frontman Christopher Owens
As the core-element of Girls, Christopher Owens created some of the most wistfully nostalgic music of the decade. With his tender punk sneer, he brought the 60s back in a way very few have been able to do. But few songs in the scant Girls catalog sound as wonderfully "dated" as "It Comes Back to You". The problem with Owens' latest effort though is the "date" isn't set in stone. Soulful billows of organ and gospel choirs suggest Stax circa '68. The slow build into a sparkler electric guitar suggests primo 70s T. Rex. And heard from a far enough distance, Owens trembling voice could pass as Buddy Holly at his most vulnerable. Whatever period it hails from, it's more than welcome in 2014.
"It Comes Back to You" is from a forthcoming album, though Owens hasn't shared any details other than to say it's "from a new album I've made with dear friends." Owens is set to play at Turnstile's SXSW show.
Oneohtrix Point Never Creates "Music for Steamed Rocks"
Daniel Lopatin, the quiet mastermind behind the Brooklyn-based electronic project Oneohtrix Point Never laid claim to an impressive 2013. He released the much heralded R Plus Seven, showed everyone what emoji-love could be with the captivating "Boring Angel" video, and announced a major tour that he is still in the midst of.
Today's release of "Music for Steamed Rocks" proves his 2014 could be just as promising as all of last year. Appearing on the upcoming Record Store day release Commissions 1, the track is one of the more humane efforts Lopatin has managed. Tender, spacey vocals cascade over glasslike synthesizer and pan out in a million directions. Strings float as though they're in zero gravity. While the title promises something that's grounded or inert, the music itself offers some of the more skyward work of the year.
Out on April 19th via Warp, Commissions 1 will also feature museum-installation "I Only Have Eyes for You" and "Meet Your Creator" which Lopatin crafted for ad-agency Saatachi & Saatachi.
Tour Dates:
3/21 Tokyo, Japan - Unit
3/22 Osaka, Japan - Circus
3/27 Miami, Florida - Perez Art Museum
3/29 Knoxville, Tennessee - Big Ears Festival
4/2 Grinnell, IA - Grinnell College
4/3 Iowa City, IA - Mission Creek Festival
4/4 St. Louis, MO - Kranzberg Art Center
4/5 Oberlin, OH - Oberlin College
4/6 Detroit, MI - Museum of Contemporary Art
4/18 Istanbul, Turkey - Club2Club
4/19 Brussels, Belgium - AB
4/23 Zurich, Switzerland - Exil
4/24 Turin, Italy - Hiroshima Mon Amour
4/25 Krems, Austria - Donau Festival
4/26 Berlin, Germany - Radialsystem V
4/29 Milan, Italy - Teatro San Fedele
4/30 Rome, Italy - Auditorium Parco Della Musica
5/2 Austin, TX - Austin Psych Festival
5/8 Pittsburgh, PA - Andy Warhol Museum
5/16 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
5/7 Montreal, Quebec - MUTEK
5/30 Lyon, France - Nuits Sonores
6/4 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Holland Festival
6/7 London, England - Field Day
6/8 Bristol, England - Arnolfini
6/13 Barcelona, Spain - Sonar Festival
6/18 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Union Sound Hall
6/19 Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center
6/20 Toronto, Ontario - NXNE BLKBOX
6/21 Toronto, Ontario - NXNE Geary St. Warehouse
7/6 George, WA - Sasquatch Festival
Shy Boys debut a new video
KC trio Shy Boys self-titled debut is an effortless streak of sunny 60s pop, but holding it all together is the dark, twitchy gravity of "And I Am Nervous". The group's jangly guitars still jangle, just at a much lower tone. Collin Rausch's voice which always seems miles away finds more distance and hides in pitch-black shadows. Even the drums don't register as fast and loose, but flailing. You'd imagine them soundtracking a person as they quietly fight for their life.
The video for "And I Am Nervous", the group's first showcases some of that flailing, but on a solo level. In the Christopher Good directed clip, a lone woman contorts about in slow-motion, bathed in dark: blues, greens, reds, and purples. Her hair wriggles across every corner of the screen, like an dying animal struggling for its last gasp of air. And as the last note of discomfort rings out the shadows close in again; confirming that the nervousness was completely called for.
Shy Boys is out now via High Dive Records.
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