The music keeps coming faster than I can bat it away, so without further ado here’s a lot of great tracks that we’ve been listening to in July, now we’re off to try and catch up with August. Please do enjoy!
Puzzle Muteson – Silver Swan (Bedroom Community)
‘Silver Swan’ taken from Puzzle Muteson’s new album ‘Swum’, out now on the small but perfectly-formed Icelandic Bedroom Community label. The song is a fragile beauty. Epic, mystical and ephemeral, it’s a winter hymn heard on a summer’s morning. We love the video’s concept too and it’s beautifully executed. Puzzle Muteson is the alter-ego of Isle Of Wight-based Terry Magson. His voice is just amazing. Do say “Sensitive aestheticist”. Don’t say “Crazy name, crazy guy!”.
Nikos Aima – Plasmata (Ammos Music)
Bit of a mystery this one, it’s the really arresting instrumental piece “Plasmata” by Nikos Aima from the thoughtfully-named ” Sketches of Works for Instrumental Ensemble” on Greek label Ammos Music. Tinged with sadness, disconcerting and downright haunting, you are gonna love it.
Yan Wagner – Abstinence ( Pschent Music)
photo: Élodie Daguin
Now – dark, addictive electro-pop from Yan Wagner. Clever bastard isn’t he? You’ll be humming this all day. It’s from the brilliant “Forty Eight Hours” LP.
beißpony – Throw A Dog A Bone (Rag Treasure)
SWIT favs beißpony return with this class video for “Throw A Dog A Bone” – which is catchy, caustic and funny as fuck. I LOVE THIS BAND! Throw A Dog A Bone appears on beißpony’s album BEASTS & LONERS which is a complete blast from start to finish.
A RITUAL SEA – ‘SEASONS (Like You)’
photo by Loreana Rushe
More ethereal shoe-gaze goodness from the Hiberno-French duo. What really sets this apart is the wonderful chorus. Class tune. ‘Seasons (Like You)’ is the second track from the duo’s forthcoming debut album. Should be a good ‘un.
Faon Faon – Mariel
Another SWIT favourite, another dance-pop classic from FAON FAON, some super funky dance moves in the video too, get on up! Get on down! This is catchier than the black death in the London of 1348.
Lucien & The Kimono Orchestra – Horizon (Cracki Records)
There are so many great French acts around at the moment and here’s another one! “Horizon” is “parfaite pop française” and that the highest compliment we can pay! Summer is living in it’s bones.
Kama Aina & Hochzeitskapelle: Wayfaring Suite 02
photo by Andreas Staebler
This is a bit special. Hochzeitskapelle are the seemingly ubiquitous Markus and Micha Acher, Mathias Götz, Alex Haas, and Evi Keglmaier – known via various other bands including The Notwist, Le Millipede, Unsere Lieblinge and Mrs. Zwirbl. The music they produce in their various incarnations is a constant delight for us here in SWIT Towers. “Wayfaring Suite 02” is no exception. It has a gorgeous, low-slung melody, the brass, in particular, is resplendent and the overall mood is that of an elegy for a beloved friend, tinged with both sorrow and joy. The video is a charming tale of the band playing together and recording the piece.
Hochzeitskapelle usually focus on cover songs, playing their loose-limbed, rumbling, foolhardy jazz tunes mostly live, in bars, in parks and out in the streets. One of Hochzeitskapelle’s go-to cover tunes is Kama Aina’s “Wedding Song”. An “incredibly beautiful song,” according to Markus Acher, a truly magic tune. They wanted more of the wizardry, and so they asked Kama Aina to write more magical tunes for the group. The result of this approach is Hochzeitskapelle’s new album, “Wayfaring Suite” which will be released on the 21st of September via Alien Transistor/Gutfeeling Records and distributed via Broken Silence. We can’t wait!
King Coya – E-Chango (zzk records)
“E-Chango” by Argentina’s King Coya is just something else. Immediately catchy – fusing dance, funk and South American folk, the interplay of the main vocal and the dreamy female samples is simply genius. It’s one of the most original tunes I’ve heard in yonks and a serious contender for tune of the year. Cracking video too!
As it says on the YouTube clip ““E-Chango”, is a kind of funk-carnavalito, that tells the story of a character who migrates from the northwest of Argentina to Buenos Aires in search of a new life, while a teenage Youtuber’s melodic sampling describes local idioms with her distinctive slang and accent. “I was looking for videos about the Jujuy accent and this girl showed up. I knew straight away she had to be part of a song, the musicality was already there,” says Gaby Kerpel about this track that makes us reflect on folklore music and identity in the internet age.”
“E-Chango” is the second single from ‘Tierra de King Coya’.
Backspace – Screen (Maybe Mars)
Backspace is a young Chinese band, founded in Beijing. “Screen” is a terrific guitar-driven, rifftastic groove that grabs you by the ears and just won’t let go [that sounds weird. Ed.]. It’s from their debut album “Human Nature Architecture” and it’s bloody great!
LOVE GOOD FAIL – SYMBIOSIS (Seayou Records)
This is some damn fine melancholic, sophisticated electronic pop from Vienna’s Love Good Fail. Glacial vocals, clever keys, sweet strings and random robots produce one of the songs of the year thus far. From the equally salubrious LP “We Met at Night”.
Beach Skulls – ” Sacred Citrus” (PNKSLM)
“Sacred Citrus” is taken from Beach Skull’s new album “Las Dunas”. It’s got all that skuzzy, louche, loping, slacker shit and then it shambles into a rather magnificent blaster of a chorus and you know you gotta just let go and dance ! and howl! Classic kinda wall of surf baby.
Mishroom & Galactic Family – The Flute Summoning (Alakir Video)
The Flute Summoning reminds me of when I have to call Gerry to come in from the balcony. There are some pretty cosmic vibes going down here and it’s probably unlike anything else you’ll hear today. Consider yourself fluted. Consider yourself summoned.
The Glücks – Why Do I Love You?
Now, after that short flute interlude here’s something a little heavier. “Why Do I Love you” is some seriously ballsy, bluesy rock and roll. It’s taken from the album “Run Amok” and run amok they certainly do. That’s all you need ot know, trust me fuckers.
MONSTERHEART – TIMBER (Seayou Records)
photo by manuel carreon lopez
“Timber” wraps you in ever decreasing circles of chamber-organ and twitchy, glitchy drum machinery. Yes, it’s a siren call from the balcony of a disused gothic church, it’s a summoning to a buried lover. It gives you a little shiver of anticipation and dread. It’s a kind of perfect 1.58. Play it again, play it again. Monsterheart is Viennese artist Anna Attar and the song is from her great LP “Salam”. Super video by Lillian Attar.
AMADINDA SOUND SYSTEM – FUTURE AFRICA PT. 1 (Seayou Records)
What a heady brew Amadinda Sound System creates. The collective consists of African and Austrian musicians who combine the traditional sounds of Uganda with western club culture. Their first LP “The Black Pearl Tapes Vol. 1” is out on Seayou Records next month. In the meantime enjoy “Future Africa Pt, 1”, it’s an exhilarating mix and one we are very much looking forward ot hearing more of.
Spirit Fest – Look At The Colours (Morr Music / Alien Transistor/Afterhours)
photo by Mat Fowler
“Look At The Colours” is the second song we’ve heard from the second LP “Anohito” by Spirit Fest, the band made up of Tokyo-based duo Tenniscoats (Saya and Takashi Ueno), Markus Acher (The Notwist), Cico Beck (Aloa Input) and Mat Fowler (Jam Money) and was recorded while the band was touring Europe last winter. A truly magical combination of avant-garde electronics with more traditional instruments underpins this simple, elegant ballad. This song is suffused with gentle happiness. Land ahoy. Makes you smile, doesn’t it?
Right, seeyas later, I’ve just changed my name to “Pints Friday” and you know what that means.
YouTube 2018 Playlist
Spotify 2018 Playlist
super world indie tunes 