Listen To/Download: Honeydrum “Pleasures of the Sun”

New Jersey’s Honeydrum  is equal parts Joy Division, Ariel Pink, Roxy Music and 80′s new wave sent through a dark filter of distortion and reverb. I really like how Pasta Primavera described Honeydrum’s sound:

Remember the other day you were strolling beachside when you spotted an old cassette tape washed up on the shore.  It was some random 80s new wave relic.  To your surprise it actually played on the stereo back at the beach house.  That night was chill.  Warped water damaged waves bled your mind into a sunset oblivion.

Pleasures of the Sun, Honeydrum’s sixth limited edition cassette EP for AMDISCS, is out now.

Watch more of Honeydrum’s music videos here

Listen To/Download: Geoff Geis “Princess”

Geoff Geis, an integral member of multiple Los Angeles-based bands including Big Whup and Pizza!, spent the opening months of 2011 collecting the material that has become Princess, the first release for his boutique cassette label Vanity Projects. To say Princess is a strange hodgepodge of sounds would be an understatement. It pulls equally from the contradictory sounds of lo-fi Electronica, old school Country, 80′s synth pop and blue-eyed soul, while still finding time to touch upon a dizzying variety of other genres in its brisk 24 minutes run time. In less skilled hands a combination of that sort could sound muddled or worse yet ridiculous but Geis’ attention to arrangements, honest vocal delivery and ear for melodies keeps Princess unified in its charming appeal.

Download: “Where Have You Been (All My Life)?” (cover song) here (right click + save link as)

Download: “Mother of All” here (right click + save link as)

6 Quality Albums Streaming Now

SBTRKT – s/t

South London DJ SBTRKT (subtract) deftly explores and expands upon British dance music  - 2 Step, garage, dubstep, house – with the help of vocal collaborators like Sampha, Massive Attack and Little Dragon, all while wearing a mask.

SBTRKT is out now via Young Turks
Watch the video for “Wildfires” here
Watch SBTRKT perform “Trials of the Past” at Abbey Road Studios here

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Washed Out – Within and Without

After two years of constant touring, chillwave whiz kid Ernest Greene decided to move Washed Out from his bedroom to the family room. Which is to say everything from the arrangements to the synths to the role of live instruments is bigger on Within and Without. Bigger is not always better but thanks to Greene’s talent for pop melodies the sun-drenched dance party never turns into an unruly mob.

Streaming at NPR
Within and Without is out July 12 on Sub Pop

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Gardens & Villa – s/t

The quintet Gardens & Villa channel all the taut pop precisions of 90s Britpop of bands like Blur (borrowed from the 60s anyhow) and send it through an 80s synth filter with a psychedelic edge. Much like the place they call home  – Santa Barbara – Gardens and Villa is laid back, unassuming and beautiful if you appreciate the simple life.

Streaming at Soundcloud
Gardens & Villa is out July 5 on Secretly Canadian

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Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital

After the release of their second album Face Control, Handsome Furs — the synth-pop duo featuring Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner and his wife Alexei Perry — traveled around the back channels of Eastern Europe and China, where they explored club music and its culture in the post-Soviet era. Somehow that translated into Handsome Furs making Sound Kapital, their most addictive and listenable album to date.

Streaming at Spin
Out now on Sub Pop

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Memory Tapes — Player Piano

Nostalgic without sounding retro and thoughtful without being overly dense, it’s more of the same chillwave from Memory Tapes on Player Piano. But that’s a good thing when the same is so sublime.

Streaming at The Quietus
Player Piano is out July 5 on Carpark Records
Watch the video for “Yes I Know” here

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Various Artists – Rave On Buddy Holly

Rave On Buddy Holly is a 19-song collection of Holly covers by a diverse, if not weird, assemblage of current musical acts. Some covers are excellent – Black Keys’ take on “Dearest”, Fiona Apple and Jon Brion’s “Everyday” and Julian Casablanca’s “Rave On”. While others are a bit odd – Cee-Lo’s “(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care” and Lou Reed’s “Peggy Sue”. And some are just flat out bad – Paul McCartney’s “It’s So Easy” and Kid Rock’s “Well Alright”.

Streaming at Soundcloud
Rave on Buddy Holly is out now

Listen To/Download: Motorboater “Left Limb” + “Lessons”

Motorboater is Dan Eaton. Dan Eaton is a Kansas City, MO chillwave producer best known for his playful remixes of unexpected artists like Carly Simon and Taylor Swift. Judging by the the airy hooks, popping beats and unflinching groove of “Left Limb” and “Lessons” – two tracks from Motorboater’s debut album Sports, out July 11 on The Record Machine – Eaton will be making a name for his own material very soon.

LEFT LIMB by Motorboater!

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Download “Lessons” here (right click + save link as)

Streaming Now: ZE Records’ Sound of N.Y.C.

ZE Records didn’t follow trends, they set them. Few labels can stand up to the diverse quality and innovation of ZE’s roster - from proto-electro punk, No Wave and noise rock to mutant disco, House music, glossy pop and whatever you call the genre-busting music of August Darnell aka Kid Creole. Fearless in the bands they signed and the music they released, ZE Records is one of my favorite labels of all time.

Via Strut who released a compilation of singles entitled ZE Records Story 1979 – 2009:

After the late ‘70s punk and new wave explosion in New York, ZE Records became a by-word for the anything-goes culture clashes that typified the Big Apple during the early ‘80s. Formed by French art student Michel Esteban and British journalist Michael Zilkha, ZE quickly created its own unique independent universe, signing artists as varied as Alan Vega’s electronic post-punk pioneers Suicide, trash disco queen Cristina and maverick producer August Darnell a.k.a. Kid Creole. With Esteban’s sharp graphic eye leading the label’s visual identity, ZE hit the New York zeitgeist head on and became supremely hip – in 1982, The Face magazine nominated it “the most fashionable label in the world.” The label’s early success led to a deal with Chris Blackwell’s Island Records, which gave ZE’s releases worldwide exposure and brought worldwide fame to Kid Creole, Was (Not Was) and more.

Over thirty years on and ZE remains one of the great cult labels of its time.

This compilation was originally a cover mount CD for the French magazine Les Inrockuptibles. It’s now being streamed via ZE Records’ Soundcloud page – a damn good intro to ZE’s output: