Fredrik's Trilogi

The Swedish forest-dwelling folk visionaries know as Fredrik have just released their second album...Trilogi. Following their critically acclaimed debut Na Na Ni from 2008, Trilogi is a more consistently inward-looking affair and takes on themes like social realities and subconscious geography. Yeah, I don't know either. The melodies are more serpentine and the textures decidedly darker. However, Fredrik's warm, sensitive lead voice and operatic choir work still lends the material the same comforting elegance as on the debut.

Trilogi is a compilation of highly limited 3" EPs released in their home country in hand-made origami packaging. The EP's bore the titles "Holm", "Ava" and "Ner", all fictional names roughly signifying "Frozen Forest Island", "Water Through Sound" and "The Inside Underground". Together they represent a trilogy of contemporary viewpoints of the Lovecraftian dream passage - orientation at great cost and understanding at the risk of sanity.

Fredrik is like something out of a dream and they'll haunt your soul until you submit to their haunting whims. It's worth it because the tunes are absolutely beautiful and are the perfect soundtrack for the dead center of winter. Let the snow fall...except here in Florida of course.

Download: Locked In The Basement
Watch:

Fredrik - Viskra from The Kora Records on Vimeo.

NiYi's Jungle Fever Kills

Niyi’s back! The multi-tasking - and talented – one-man musician, DJ, club promoter, fashionista and general boy-about-town recently released his six track EP Jungle Fever on Holloway Hit Factory - his own record label.

Since his last single Poached Eggs, Niyi’s been a busy dude. He was recently featured in a five-page shoot for Clash magazine’s October 2009 issue. He also ran his hugely popular weekly club night ‘I Heart Niyi’ at Punk in Soho for a year, which was graced each week with the crème de la crème of the fashion and music world (Lady Ga Ga performed live last year as part of London Fashion Week and Calvin Harris, Little Boots and Golden Silvers have all DJed).

It’s hard to sum up Niyi. The ex Central St. Martin students’ musical repertoire is refreshingly unpredictable. A softly-spoken “rapper”, Niyi cannot be lumped into existing categories and so forges his own genre-bending music which is represented on Jungle Fever. How he found the time to record the single is beyond me, but after a couple of listens, I think you'll agree it's a good thing he did.

Download: Jungle Fever
Download: Bumpback (Raven Mix)

Killing Joke Bust Out

Killing Joke’s first EP, Turn To Red, appeared in September 1979 on the new Malicious Damage label set up by graphic artist Mike Coles and distributed by Island. It was followed in November by Almost Red - basically the same EP plus new title track, which was initially sold at gigs. The track demonstrates how the Joke were indeed ahead of their time, as dub-disco sensibilities course through the heavyweight thud of the Youth-Ferguson rhythm axis topped by a metallic synthetic replication of the ‘I Feel Love’ riff, Geordie’s sparse guitar shards and Jaz’s caustic, post-nuclear proclamations. Their radical, apocalyptic approach was often cited as a massive influence on anyone from Nirvana to industrial bands, but also incorporated dub reggae and New York dance music.

Bustin' Out, The Post Punk Era 1979-1981, the first in the New Wave To New Beat series, is an often-startling picture of the no-holds-barred musical ructions which sprang up after punk's scorched earth revolution. Compiler Mike Maguire has made a rigid stand against being pigeon-holed throughout his 30 year DJing career, spreading the message that no sound or genre should be compartmentalised. This multi-hued set is a fine testimony to this ethos.

"Almost Red," is a certifiable classic and when you think about how they ripped off Moroder back then it's amazing. I mean it's pretty obvious what they were doing from the first note and here they are essentially sampling the tune probably w/o any sort of permission. How they got away w/it is beyond me but they did. Pure punk with a disco beat.

Download: Almost Red

The Get Busy Committee

The group is Get Busy Committee and features names you may have heard before: Ryu (Styles of Beyond, Demigodz) and Apathy (Demigodz, Army of the Pharaohs). Tracks are produced by Apathy as well as super-producer Scoop Deville, known for his work recently with Snoop Dogg, The Game, Clipse, and many others. Scoop also lends his signature vocal swagger to many of the tracks on the band's debut album, Uzi Does It.

As for Uzi Does It, the album is being released on their very own, bizarrely named, record label, Tokyo Sex Whale Records. Ryu was once signed to Warner Brothers and Apathy to Atlantic. No offense to the A&R rep who thinks phrases like, "I think you should work on your skateboard skills" or "you should go to the gym so you can take your shirt off on stage" is career advice, but Get Busy Committee decided to eschew label interest this time around and go their own route. "We can fuck it up ourselves, thanks," they were heard to say. As a result, Uzi Does It is a 100% self-funded, self-released independent record which is available now.

Download: Left Behind
Download: Say Whaaat

Brian JonesTOWN Massacre Go Mental

Anton is at it again and apparently I can't fucking spell! Jesus...the joys of doing posts at 6am and using spellcheck. Anton will probably show up strung out and kick my ass as a result.

The Brian JonesTOWN Massacre is about to not only release it's latest record but it's also preparing to head out on the road. Whether it's DIG style or normal is yet to be determined...but when your first single is called, "Lets Go Fucking Mental," you can kind of make certain assumptions.

The band’s tenth album Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? is due on February 23rd, with their U.S. tour kicking off May 28th in Minneapolis.

Here's the dates...
5/28: Cabooze, Minneapolis
5/29: Turner Hall, Milwaukee
5/30: Metro, Chicago
5/31: Grog Shop, Cleveland
6/02: Phoenix Concert Hall, Toronto
6/03: La Tulipe, Montreal
6/04: Paradise Rock Club, Boston
6/06: Webster Hall, New York
6/08: TLA, Philadelphia
6/09: 9:30 Club, DC
6/10: Mad Hatter, Cincinnati
6/11: Off Broadway, St Louis
6/13: Bluebird Theater, Denver
6/14: Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City
6/15: Knitting Factory, Boise
6/17: Crystal Ballroom, Portland
6/18: Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver
6/19: Neumos. Seattle
6/21: Fillmore, San Francisco
6/22: Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles

Download: Lets Go Fucking Mental

Their Secret History

The Secret History is an NYC-based band featuring cult songwriter Michael Grace, Jr. and his decade-long co-conspirators from the adored (but obscured) indie pop group My Favorite. The band also features the debut of vocalists Lisa Ronson (daughter of glam rock legend Mick Ronson) and Erin Dermody.

Grace's lyrics turn bare bedsit walls into drive-in theatres, while Ronson's singing alternates between the emotive and the plaintive -- one minute channeling Dusty Springfield, the next, Kirsty Macoll. Behind them, guitarist Darren Amadio, keyboardist Kurt Brondo, bassist Gil Abad, and drummer Tod Karasik tailor soundscapes to suit each changing mood. Together, they are creating a new kind of cinematic post-pop, drawing from the rainy jangles of C86, the buzz & stomp of glam, and the light & air of the classic girl groups (particularly apparent in Ronson and Dermody's harmonies).

With a sound that's not to far from being something like the Smiths meeting the Popinjays on holiday and falling in love with each other, The Secret History clearly know how to write a proper indie pop song. This is a band that's got a classic British sound to them with out them actually, you know, being British. Call it idolatry or call it love, The Secret History have done their homework and have come up with a beautiful set of songs that will have you drinking cups of tea and reaching for your anorak. Awesome stuff that might just be better than My Favorite.

Download: Johnny Anorak

The Dustbowl Revival

The Dustbowl Revival is a Venice, CA-based folk orchestra that merges old school gypsy rhythms with bluegrass, gospel, jug-band, jump blues and the hot swing of the 1930’s to form a spicy roots cocktail.

Known for their raucous dance-inducing live sets, The Dustbowl Revival plays what some call hillbilly jazz—the original front porch rock n’ roll. Think Dylan and The Band in Newport meets Louis Armstrong in New Orleans meets Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes on the beaches of LA.

It’s young people playing upbeat, vintage music and it’s all written and composed by howlin’ and stompin’ 24 year old frontman Zach Lupetin who first envisioned putting together a kind of roots supergroup when he moved from Chicago (his father is a blues harp virtuoso who sometimes sits in), to Michigan and then to sunny Los Angeles three years ago. The goal? Why, to make people feel good, of course.

They do a good job of that on their shuffly single, "Falling Down." It's Americana gone twee and will put a smile on your face. It's kind of ironic that in these days of economic recession that a band comes along that literally sounds as if it came wandering out of the dustbowl around the time of the Great Depression. Traditional music has never founded so uplifting or fun to listen to.

The Dustbowl Revival release their album, You Can't Go Back To The Garden Of Eden on March 16th.

Download: Falling Down