"Every Square Inch" ft. Qrion- Ryan Hemsworth

"This song is not about kissing or anything like that," those are the only words electronic/dance/cloud-rap producer Ryan Hemsworth has to offer on Soundcloud about his wonderfully airy new instrumental "Every Square Inch". In terms of descriptions, the one crafted by the Halifax, Nova Scotia native may contain one of the more bald-faces lies in music in 2014. Hearing Qrion's aching wordless vocals paired with Hemsworth's sprite-like effects, a romantic tingle will inevitably creep up your spine. 

There's just too much abounding joy in "Every Square Inch", too many bright keyboard sparkles and carbonated drum machine fizzes to avoid the "warm tingly feeling." Listening to the song on repeat while I write this review, I can't keep from grinning. A smile spreads across my face and stays put. "Every Square Inch" is the sort of track you'd hear inspiring a character to profess their love to someone in an indie rom-com. As it grows slightly more propulsive, their heart beat quickens. And whenever they're done speaking, there's a gradually picked guitar to greet them. Vaguely reminiscent of the Microphones' "I Want Wind to Blow", the guitar becomes a cloud to rest on as you float down. Of course with such excitement, it's hard to fall very far.

What's New(s)?

Azealia Banks debuts new track

Harlem rapper/R&B singer Azealia Banks debut LP Broke With Expensive Taste has been in a perpetual state of delay, but that hasn't stop the firebrand from staving off audience hunger with new material. Banks is already teasing a new mixtape, titled Fantasea II: Second Wave tenatively scheduled for a July 11, 2014 release. While such a far-off date might seem farfetched, Banks has supplied "Count Contessa" for proof. The beat supplied by producer Lone squelches and squeaks like interstitial JRPG music, if it was soundtracking a nautical themed house party. "If you can't dance and if you can't sing", Banks intones several times over the wavy synths. If the release date has any grounding in reality, we'll have plenty of time to practice our moves. 

 Daft Punk time travel in new video

If Daft Punk's rosy love-letter to the 70s Random Access Memories failed to demonstrate robots are capable of experiencing nostalgia, the French duo's new video featuring Pharrell and Nile Rogers is the final proof. Nothing overly complicated about the set-up here, just the four collaborators in an angelic disco glow playing for a dance conscious crowd at Studio 54 circa 22nd century. The camera pans the entire crowd and we find there isn't a single soul not caught up in the groove. Daft Punk has supplied a video that lives up to the song's lofty commands.

How to Dress Well releases "Hangover Mix"

  

"Ok i woke up super hungover today and made this mix of songs," Tom Krell of How to Dress Well begins his most-recent Soundcloud posting. The near 45 minute mix weaves through intermittent clips of Krell recontextualizing current rap juggernauts in the way of "Hold On We're Going Home" and a Ryan Hemsworth remix of "Honest". Krell finds the time to stop over and laconically back up Kanye West on "Hold My Liquor" with his breathless falsetto. We also detour to incendiary bits of Kevin Gates, subdued acoustic strumming from the reviled GG Allin,  and slow-burning pieces from Tink and Tracy Chapman. When considering the parenthetical title of "Hungover Mix", the genre-hopping starts to make sense. As Krell succinctly puts it in his post, "it's like a mix of songs that soothe and punish".

What's New(s)?

MGMT targeted by the NSA in new trailer

 
To promote their upcoming third studio LP, the self-titled MGMT, the band has released a beguiling trailer featuring five new songs from the record. The video, shot in a seemingly lush jungle high on a hill sees Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser rehearsing while the NSA spies on them. However the agency isn't the only invasive element, their also joined by a possum and a repulsive beetle. The music is just as surreal, proving once and for all the former glories of: "Kids", "Electric Feel", and "Time to Pretend" were the outliers in the band's increasingly bizarre catalog.

   

MGMT is out September 17 through Columbia.

Arcade Fire release Reflektor teaser

 

On September 9 at 9pm Canadian-band Arcade Fire will be doing something in promotion of their upcoming fourth LP Reflektor, out October 29. What exactly the promotion entails is still veiled in secrecy and the band has stoked the speculative fire with a short new video. We see shadowy shots of Arcade Fire apparently recording segueing into a panoramic ocean view until the video cuts off at the 30 second mark, replaced by the above image and 9/9 9pm. All we really know at this point is that the band worked with LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy on the record, who guaranteed: "It sounds like Arcade Fire in the way that only Arcade Fire sound like Arcade Fire, you know? It's really f***ing epic."

 

Ryan Hemsworth unveils debut album

 

 

 

Canadian producer Ryan Hemsworth has maintained a steady Soundcloud presence over the past few years thanks to a stream of atmospheric remixes, subdued cloud productions for Oakland residents Green Ova Undergrounds, and a jaw-dropping Diplo and Friends hour-long mix. Next month, he'll step outside the "the hip hop, R&B and dance music world," on his debut LP Guilt Trips. Hemsworth hasn't released a tracklist yet, but is promising appearances from Kitty and electronic artist Baths amongst others. Miami artist Lofty 305 shows up on first cut "Against A Wall", a slow-moving song that weaves through a hall of mirrors on its way out of your speakers. Listen to the track below and look for Guilt Trips to drop 10/22 on Last Gang. 

 

 

"Against A Wall"

 

 

 

Check back in again tomorrow for the newest in new(s). 

"Pull Me Down (Ryan Hemsworth Remix)"- Mikky Ekko

Hope can sometimes be an impossibly cruel and funny emotion. To call upon hope in abject circumstances is to throw caution to the wind and believe that everything will work out for the best. When we hope for something unseen and unknown we have a reason to wake up in the morning. In effect, "keeping hope alive" keeps us going.

Mikky Ekko's own "Pull Me Down" with atmospheric production from Clams Casino struggles to find hope while uncertainty runs rampant. "Pull me down if you want, and I hope that you want to," Ekko sings with unmistakable urgency at the start of the breathless Ryan Hemsworth remix. Ekko's own trouble has become entangled with another girl's trouble and he begs to be swept away in a raging sea of strife along with her. The production from Clams Casino perfectly crafts this storminess, with Ekko's vocals bubbling up to the surface as the rolling waves of her name wash over him. Ekko wants to be there at all times, raging a battle "up against the world," and sharing secrets "only trouble knows." In the midst of this tempest, Ekko keeps hope alive by envisioning the couple as the "king and queen of the moonlight." The same hope that keeps Ekko going, has also managed to make a mess of him as he pins all on his chances on someone he admits is "trouble." Where the relationship will end up is left to fate, but hope can't help but have a say. 

  

 "Pull Me Down (Ryan Hemsworth Remix)"- Mikky Ekko