Jonny Kates - Groombridge

It's been in the public domain for a few weeks now, so I thought I had better share my latest album here on Skies Are Rare - particularly as it was featured on the extremely popular blog The Sirens Sound last month.

'Groombridge' is a collection of some ambient tracks that I have been working on since about March. It's quite concise - it comes in at just under half an hour. So I suppose calling it an 'album' is a bit presumptuous. Nonetheless, I'm quite pleased with how it sounds and feel like the half hour length is a good fit for something that probably isn't suitable for all listeners.

 You can stream or download Groombridge for free (or pay what you want) over on Bandcamp. You'll also be able to find it in plenty of other places, such as iTunes; Spotify; Soundcloud (embedded below); Deezer; YouTube... I'll leave the searching to you if you feel so inclined.

 I've always been a fan of ambient music and have always fancied trying my hand at it. Most of my previous music that I have produced on my lonesome has been in a fairly IDM electronic vein, so this was a departure from that which was interesting to explore. I will continue to write new and better material under this guise and am looking to perform some live ambient sets; which presents a new challenge in itself. Enjoy! Would love to hear your comments.

New Tame Impala song - Apocalypse Dreams

Hype has been building for some time around the second album of one of my favourite bands, Tame Impala. About a month ago, the band posted on their Facebook account that new material would be available to listen to before too long. That was followed by a YouTube video which featured a short sample of the first single from the album and then earlier today, the band posted a link to stream the full track.

So here it is! Sounds excellent upon first listen and clocks in at nearly six minutes - one that was worth waiting for. Can't wait to hear the full deal.

The Tallest Man On Earth - There's No Leaving Now

The rather misnomered The Tallest Man On Earth - a.k.a. 29 year old Swedish shorty Kristian Matsson - returns this week with his third album, There's No Leaving Now. It's out on tomorrow (11th June) in the UK and you can purchase it here.

So what can you expect? Well there's no real shocks as you can imagine. Kristian gives us another collection of memorable, Dylan-esque songs just in time to make your Summer playlist. The album does make use of some more diverse instrumentation rather than just shouty man and acoustic guitar. There's some nice slide guitar in there and the self-titled track is a beautiful piano ditty that splits up the record wonderfully. However in the main, it does exactly what it says on the tin (except for the tall bit).

Why re-invent the wheel? Tallest Man has spent the last five years patiently building up a strong fan base who are now waiting in expectation. Matsson has a specific style for which he has a proven track record and I for one am delighted to hear something that matches the strength and sound of his previous albums.

Alamo Race Track - Birds at Home (2003)

I love it when an old abandoned favourite comes to the fore. The other day I had a sudden urge to listen to Birds at Home, the 2003 album from Dutch band Alamo Race Track. Considering today is the Holland House Dutch Festival; I figured it was appropriate to share.

At its core it's an indie rock album. But don't get lost in ideas of jangly guitars and moppy hair cuts. Alamo Race Track play highly organised yet frenetic songs that meander through a host of movements. They most certainly are not your average verse-chorus-verse indie band. At times they remind me of Wilco, whilst tracks like 'We Like To Go On' sound like they could have appeared on The Stroke's 2001 classic Is This It.

Anywho, little point digressing. Give it a listen and have yourself a Grolsch.

Alamo Race Track – Birds At Home

LITE - Past, Present, Future

For my first post in a while, I'd like to draw your attention to the new record from one of my favourite Japanese bands, LITE. The group appear to be calling it a 'mini album' - it comes in at just under twenty minutes and is made up of five tracks. The first three of which will be familiar to old faithful's of the band; combining fast, punch math-rock guitar with clever song arrangement and tessellating layers. The last two tracks on the album include vocals and head down a more experimental and, dare I say it, poppy theme.

I am not dismayed by Past, Present, Future but I am certainly not bowled over by the apparent new direction that the group are taking. At the risk of sounding selfish; I'm also a little underwhelmed by the two year wait for a 20 minute release. LITE have set the bar of expectation fairly high with their previous albums - particularly Phantasia which was released in 2008 - and upon early reflections it looks like the latest attempt falls short of the mark.

link

Spencer Tweedy: Rushmore

Jeff Tweedy's son has just uploaded a demo of one of his tracks Rushmore to Soundcloud. With big boots to fill, it sounds like Spencer Tweedy has done a pretty good job of echoing his father's acoustic Americana sound; albeit with a perhaps more positive spin on life. Rushmore is a chirpy and bright track with guitars, keys and organs all jostling for position over lo-fi vocals. I generally prefer Wilco's more up-beat work, so I'm really digging this track.

I've no idea what's on the agenda for the teenager but this first snippet sounds promising, particularly from someone so young.

Q&A with The Widest Smiling Faces

Aviv Cohn - aka The Widest Smiling Faces - is an incredibly talented singer songwriter from Brooklyn and has recently released his new album Me And My Ribcage, which is available as a free download over on his Bandcamp page. The album is a crushingly beautiful collection of melancholy and subdued acoustic tracks that perfectly showcase Aviv's enormous aptitude as a composer and musician. I was lucky enough to catch up with Aviv and had the chance to ask him a few questions about the new record.

A Place To Bury Strangers - Onwards To The Wall EP

One of my favourite (and loudest) bands ever A Place To Bury Strangers have a new EP out next week and are very generously giving punters a free pre-sale stream. If you're not familiar with APTBS I suggest you line up their first record, strap yourself to your chair and bite down hard on your tongue.

Django Django - Default

There have been a number of notable recent releases that I've been meaning to write about but haven't got round to it. Let's kick off with the hugely anticipated debut record from indie British outfit Django Django.

Stream Gonjasufi’s new album MU.ZZ.LE

The rather fantastic Sumach Ecks - aka Gonjasufi - has a new album out Tuesday on Warp. You can now stream MU.ZZ.LE in its entirety over on Warp's Soundcloud page. Unfortunately embedding is disabled, so you really are going to have to head over to this page for the stream. The album retains Gonjasufi's self-produced unique sound; a style which I've been remarkably impressed with. If you're not familiar with his work, MU.ZZ.LE is as good a place as any to start with and as it's only really a "mini album", may in fact be easier to get stuck into than his 2010 record A Sufi and a Killer.

You can preorder the album on CD or double 10″ vinyl now here.