Tycho - Dive

If Capri Sun was a rave drug, this is what I'd listen to while drinking it.  Ambient electronic vibes from San Fran producer / designer Scott Hansen (producer name: Tycho, Designer name ISO50).  This music is like a polariod picture, fuzzy in all the right spots, crystal clear in all the right spots, giving your memories the qualities of dreams.  You can almost feel the evening breeze coming off the surf in these tracks, taste the salt on your lips as sun kissed days fade into dark, full of nostalgia for what's passed and excitement for what's to come.  The new record Dive is out now digitally, physical is due around mid November on Ghostly International.  


Heres some tracks from his soundloud.  So far Coastal Break is my fav.

I'm hoping to catch his set this coming weekend when he plays Music Hall of Williamsburg on 10/16 (CMJ warmup anyone?).  Looks like there'll be a little visual accompaniment:

Dates:

• 10/12/11 - Toronto, Canada (/w Little Dragon)
• 10/16/11 - Brooklyn, NY
• 10/17/11 - Boston, MA (/w Little Dragon)
• 10/18/11 - Philadelphia, PA (/w Little Dragon)
• 10/19/11 - Pittsburgh, PA (/w Little Dragon)
• 10/21/11 - Atlanta, GA (/w Little Dragon)
• 10/22/11 - Miami, FL (/w Little Dragon)
• 10/23/11 - Orlando, FL (/w Little Dragon)
• 10/25/11 - Tampa, FL (/w Little Dragon)
• 11/18/11 - Fort Collins, CO (/w Little Dragon)
• 11/19/11 - Denver, CO (/w Little Dragon)

Washed Out - Within and Without

I'm currently enrolled in a Music Criticism class at NYU.  This was an assignment for a 400 - 500 word review.  Thought I'd throw it up here.  

Best album art of the year?

In late 2009 a buzzword started floating around the internet describing the lo-fi electronic micro genre that was permeating the blogosphere.  Chillwave, as it was named, had arrived.  Characterized by bedroom production, echoing beats, processed synthesizers and a nostalgia for the 80s, the music intentionally sounded like your most played new wave cassette tape had been left crashing in the surf, only to be bleached by the sun as the tide receded. 

            2011 has seen the follow up releases for many of chillwave’s front-running artists, including 27 year old Georgia based Ernest Greene, who produces under the name Washed Out.  But with waning interest in the genre, it’s hard to know what to expect in new releases from these young artist.  Two years since chillwave’s appearance and it already seems like a fad, a flash in the pan.  Can these artists continue to entice with new sounds, or will chillwave prove to be nothing more than a production technique used to drown recycled ideas in reverb?