Cate le Bon

Mutual Benefit - Advanced Falconry

Gilligan Moss

James Vincent McMorrow - Cavalier

Is JVM leaving his acoustic guitar behind in favor of an organic take on James Blake? Hard to care with this stunner. Light a fucking candle, it's baby making time.   

Angel Olson

Sorry for no post in so long. . . not sure what happened, but going to try to water this garden a little more.  So much good music lately. . . and maybe, just maybe a late fall playlist coming... need more coffee.  

I've been really obsessed with Angel Olson's 2012 record Half Way Home. I was a little late to the game on this one, but hopefully we'll be hearing a lot more from her now that she's signed with Jagjaguar Records.  

Typhoon - White Lighter

Typhoon is so much band (something like 10-14 members?). So much sound, texture, detailed orchestration and complicated arrangements. So much to love. I'm feeling like the greatest rewards are going to come from autumn drives, letting this soundtrack the passing landscape.  Purchase.

Southeastern

This record has been on serious repeat for me over the last few weeks.  Jason Isbell's songwriting is nothing short of stunning on this one.  Personal highlights are Cover Me Up, Elephant, Different Days, and Songs That She Said In The Shower.  But really, just let it play. 

Courtney Barnett - Avant Gardener

Stella

This is my homegirl Stella.  She hates everybody.  So I made this picture series of her, inspired by Cherub's "Doses and Mimosas", a song that she loves.    

James Wallace and the Naked Light

psychedelic folk from Nashville's James Wallace and the Naked Light.  

Heart Beats

Decided to make a new little section on here for the electronic music that I'm liking.  More to come.  

Moderate - Bad Kingdom (from II) 

Mount Kimbie - Made To Stray (from Cold Spring Fault Less Youth)

San Fermin - Sonsick

it's a summer kind of sickness

Grey Reverend

Discovered Grey Reverend through Bonobo's stunning new record The North Borders, where he's featured as the vocalist on opening track "First Fires". "My Hands" is currently getting the obsessive repetitive play treatment over here. Looks like you can snag his new EP over at iTunes starting July 30th, and a new full length will hit September 2nd from Warp.   

Summer 2013 BBQ Playlist

This started as a little collaborative playlist between a friend and I back when "Get Lucky" first came out.  It was the early days of Spring, still shitty and raining all the time (wait, is that over yet?) and with the first Daft Punk single just released, there was a lot of g-chatter of "this is gonna be the song of the summer!" and "this is gonna be the best summer ever!", which lead to a discussion of this hypothetical BBQ at which this song would play, which lead to this playlist. Little did we know at that time that "Get Lucky" would become an omni-present pulse emanating from every bodega and cat-calendar-hanging-top-40-playing cubicle in the country. Regardless, that track remains on the playlist, along with around 70 other tracks released since the start of 2012 that we felt like playing at this imaginary BBQ. Its still growing, still changing, but as the 4th of July approaches, we here at MySundaySweater headquarters hope you enjoy the vibe.  Pour yourself a drink, hit shuffle and let it play. 

The Virgins - Strike Gently

This record makes me want to be the frontman of a band.  I want to stand center stage, staring blankly at the audience, a cigarette hanging loosely from the corner of my mouth, only my hips jerking ever so slightly to the beat while I croon disinterestedly and cooly at my adoring fans.  Also, in this scenario, I have hair, a full lustrous head of hair. Fucking conditioner commercial hair. . . 

Favorite records of 2013 so far. . . .

List time! The first half of 2013 has proved fruitful for new releases, including some super high profile records from the likes of Daft Punk, My Bloody Valentine, Vampire Weekend, and more.  For some reason all those records are collecting dust for me, and I'm hoping to give them the time they deserve before the year comes to a close. Instead, the records below are the ones that I have come back to repeatedly this year, the ones that, for reasons I'm too lazy to investigate, I can't seem to stop playing.  

new Washed Out: It All Feels Right

W E L C O M E S U M M E R 2 0 1 3.  

Sylvan Esso - Hey Mami

Sylvan Esso is a collaboration between Mountain Man's Amelia Meath and Megafaun bassist Nick Sanborn, but Hey Mami finds the pair abandoning their folk roots in favor of a vocal / electro mashup. This beauty starts as an acapella before abrasive bass synths burst weird yet brilliantly through.  Jam.  

Majical Cloudz - Impersonator

This one's going on the list of favorite records for the first half of 2013.  

Julianna Barwick - Forever

For your daily zen, the first track to hit the interwebs off of Julianna Barwick's new record Nepenthe, out August 20th on Dead Oceans.   

Sam Amidon - As I Roved Out

Ólafur Arnalds - For Now I am Winter

Like fellow Icelandic band Sigur Ros, you could add about any imagery to the sound of Ólafur Arnalds and it becomes steeped in perceived emotional meaning. No exception here, on the official video for "Only The Winds" off of Arnolds most recent record For Now I am Winter.  

Stream the whole record below. If you like this sound, I cannot recommend the label that puts Arnald's music out highly enough.  Check out Erased Tapes here.

Doyeq - Never Back

Really really lovely jazz infused neo-classical beats from Doyeq. Pay what you want for this beauty over at Fuselab's bandcamp page (pay something, it's worth it). The soundcloud link below is a nice sampler of the whole thing, or hit the bandcamp embed and dive a little deeper.   

Steve Gunn - Time Off

One of my current favorite artists, Hiss Golden Messenger (his new record Haw is great, older one Bad Debt still gets me every time), just posted about label mate Steve Gunn on FB, and this song just instantly hooked me with a beautiful take on bluesy psych folk.  Pre-order here, record drops June 18.  

Jim James - Regions of Light and Sound of God

Initially this record kind of missed the mark for me - perhaps the depth of this cosmic swamp party left me grasping at air trying to get a handle on it. A fair amount of background listens made for a nice atmosphere, but nothing that really sunk its hooks into me. Until I caught his set this past Monday at Webster Hall. Holy smokes. James proved himself a true entertainer, running the stage like some kind of evangelical rock'n'roll maniac, with face melting guitar solos and svengali saxophone weird-outs. I think, somewhere during an extended psychedelic jam, I tweeted something along the lines of "Jim James is taking me to the dark side of the moon. Remind me to pick my face up off the floor when this is over". 

The best live shows leave me wanting to return to the recordings, finding new life in them as I relive what the artist was able to breath into the music live. The best live shows prove my initial assessment of an album wrong (i love being wrong, especially when it's because something opened me up and allowed me to hear a record through a new lens). As such, here's a post about Regions of Light and Sound of God, a couple months too late, but what the heck, when it comes to great music, I'd rather be late to the table than never sit at it at all.     

Futurebirds - Baba Yaga

Futurebirds track APO is one of my favorites.  The Athens band is back with a brand new record brimming with their brand of humid and frayed southern rock, this time out on Fat Possum.

Cayucas - Bigfoot

Anticipating this being big for me this summer. Most conversations I've had about this record so far have gone like this: "This sounds like Beck" followed by "Who gives a fuck, Spring is here and this is fucking awesome". Stereogum, who has the full record streaming at their site, insists that this is a sufier / sunier version of Local Natives, which I suppose also works.  Either way, beach season is almost here, and despite my favorite spot being closed for 2013, it's time to start planning playlists for Lil' Thumper to blast to all the bikini clad babes of my imaginary pool party. Pre-order this baby over at Secretly Canadian's website (Deluxe version includes a beach ball!) or pick it up when it hits your local shop this Tuesday the 30th. 

Mark Kozelek and Jimmy LaValle

I'm a big fan of both Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon, formerly of The Red House Painters) and Jimmy LaValle (The Album Leaf). Naturally, I'm pumped to hear what happens when you mix moody atmospheric electronics with moody songwriting. It's gonna get moody up in here! Hits shelves April 30th (pre-order), or you can pre-stream the whole thing over at P4k.  

Low - Invisible Way

This new Low record has been something of an obsession for me of late. While the two tracks below are certainly album high points, its the understated songs that thread between these that are keeping this in heavy rotation at the moment.  

It takes a lot of talent to make depression sound this good. 

Modest Midas

This band recently came across my radar - having a really hard time finding any info on them outside of their Facebook page, where you can listen to some recordings of a rehearsal. But last night in the LES, as I watched the very talented CultFever play, some friends from Swear and Shake could not stop talking about how impressed they were with the Modest Midas set they had just caught next door with all of about 8 people. So put it on your radar, and lets hope for some more recordings from these guys soon.   

"In Search Of Magic" (a live film with Modest Midas) from Kevin de Wilde on Vimeo.

Cloud Boat

While everyone collectively freaks out about the new James Blake record (and rightfully so), check out Cloud Boat.  Ghostly experimental beats with choir boy vocals breaking through the fog. (And yes, I am just sitting going through all of the sets on Apollo Records soundcloud page today.)  

Synkro - Spirals

Been feeling these ambient influenced downtempo bass tracks as we wait for spring to break here in the north east.  Favorites include "Spirals" and "Illuminations".  

DJ Koze - Amygdala

I was going through pictures on my phone from SXSW (I swear there's a SXSW post coming sometime soon), and I found a screen shot I took of the following tweet: 

reasons why this is awesome: 

1) I had the brain juice left after 6 days of insanity to know that I would not remember this tweet, and the forethought to take a screen shot in anticipation of SXSW induced amnesia.

2) I started listening to this record today, and it is, indeed, incredible.  Sometimes I hear something on first listen and I just know, already, that this will be one of my favorite records of the year.  This record has it all, a genre bashing mountain of psychedelic electronic music.  At times just weird enough, at times deep and introspective, at times blissed-out and beach ready.  

You can listen to the entire record through Pampa Records soundcloud page.

Daughter

Daughter's first two EP's landed a solid spot on my best of 2011 list.  To this day, I still find myself going back to stark, sad songs on late night subway rides.  In anticipation of the band's first full length album release (US April 30th on Glassnote), this video surfaced yesterday of Daughter covering Bon Iver's "Perth" into Hot Chips "Ready for the Floor".
 

Lemâitre

Closing my eyes and imagining its not still March. . . 

This EP plays like the best Phoenix and / or Kings Of Convenience remixes.  Also, huge Justice reference on "Continuum".  But thats ok, I will end up blasting these tracks regardless.  

Baths - Miasma Sky

I've mentioned him on the site before, referencing Baths' 2010 record Cerulean as one of my favorites of that year.  I still freak on that record, finding new depths in the weirdly beautiful broken electronic pop this LA producer created.  Not long ago I was chatting with a friend about this guy, wondering when we were going to get some new productions from him to obsess over.  And then, as if the angels from over at Anticon Records were listening in on my conversation, here comes the first single from Baths yet to be released sophomore album Obsidian (5/28/13).  



It's worth mentioning that a little under a month ago another Baths related song hit the web, a pairing with Japanese singer / composer Cokiyu.  The track plays like a blissed out remix of a Múm track.  Nice.

On An On - Give In

A couple weeks back I went to see a favorite band, Tiny Victories, play a set at Glasslands.  They were opening for On An On, who I had never heard up until that point.  Fast forward to this week, and this record is on repeat.  It's unique blend of big rock hooks and atmospheric electronics, all run through a production filter straight out of Instgram, make this an engaging listen on a good pair of headphones or a booming sound system. "Ghosts" has been stuck in my head for days.  

Bibio - Á tout á l'heure

New psychedelic folk tinged electronic track from Bibio.  Full length is out 5/14/13 via Warp records.  You can download this beauty in exchange for an email address below.  

Fyfe

We're excited about the clean electronic pop sounds coming from London's Fyfe, whose Solace EP will see release on April 8th.  That is all.

Sam Amidon - My Old Friend

Sam Amidon has moved to Nonsuch Records, and is preparing for his label debut there, titled Bright Sunny South (May 14 release).  This one's short but sweet, a slice of nostalgia for (you guessed it) that old friend you fell out of touch with.  

Wales - Still Gone (Demo)

I was hanging out at a friend's place yesterday and his roommate, who I already knew as a talented filmaker and composer (he made this fantastic video for a band I have the honor of working with, Swear and Shake) mentioned to me that he had recorded a new song and posted it on Bandcamp. And here I am today with this track on repeat. "Still Gone" is Wales (aka Samuel Aaron Bennett) first and only track to hit the net, a dreamy late night pop landscape with layered, hushed vocals that draw you right into Bennett's world.  

Phosphorescent - Song For Zula

Phosphorescent's latest, titled Muchacho, will land in March via Dead Oceans.  Here's the first single, Song For Zula.  

Foxygen - We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

This record has quickly become my favorite of 2013 so far. Too many classic influences to list. Might be too early to tell, but this shit feels versatile, as at home at last nights dinner party as it will be at the beach in late june. "No Destruction" is my current favorite, if only for the line at 2:23 "there's no need to be an asshole, you're not in Brooklyn anymore".  Stop being assholes Brooklyn!  These so cal hippies are sensitive!

Houndmouth

This band recently came across my radar and it's driving me a little crazy because I can't for my life remember where.  But it's sounding awesome on this Wednesday morning.  Houndmouth hails from the "lowland plains and farmlands of Indiana and Kentucky", and their EP dropped last summer on Rough Trade.  It's worth your $4 to pick it up here.  

Townes Van Zandt - Sunshine Boy

This collection of unreleased studio tracks and demos can be purchased here. Really can't wait to get my hands on this one. . . Aquarium Drunkard has the review dialed here.  

James Blake - Retrograde

Julianna Barwick - Pacing

Some friends and I put together a collaborative Spotify playlist for watching the big fluffy white stuff fall through the sky during the Blizzard Nemo that hit this weekend.  This new Julianna Barwick track would have been a beautiful addition, with it's drifting piano lines and layered vocals creating an otherworldy atmosphere.  The track will drop via Suicide Squeeze March 5th on Barwick's new Pacing EP.   A limited 750 are available for pre-order now, I just put in my order for the 7" on opaque red vinyl.  

Vondelpark - Seabed

2 from the forthcoming LP 'Seabed' out on R&S Records 1st April 2013

Thao and The Get Down Stay Down

San Fran's Thao Nguyen and her band The Get Down Stay Down are finally back with a new album, We The Common, which drops next week (2/5/13). Been such a fan of this group for so long, songs like Know Better Learn Faster, Bag of Hammers, and Swimming Pools where staples of my old radio show.  Pre order from iTunes or Ribbon Mart. You can also stream the whole thing over at NPRs first listen.  

Torres - Honey

Debut full length from Nashville's Torres drops tomorrow, 1/22/13 HERE. 

Junip - Line of Fire

An all-time MySundaySweater favorite José González will release new material this coming April with his band Junip.  On their 2010 debut Fields the band brought additional levels of texture to González's minimal modern folk.  WIth their newest single "Line Of Fire" the band builds their sound into something sweeping, cinematic, and triumphant.  
 

Kodak To Graph - Sasquatch Eve / AD/VEN/TURE

I'm always interested in the area's where electronics and nature intersect, particularly the ways in which the former can be used to represent the later in audio form.  So when I read on PastaPrimavera that the new single from Kodak to Graph was written and recorded on top of a mountain, a couldn't help but be captivated.  The Gainesville producer keeps it light and airy, the perfect soundtrack for 360 valley views and pink puffy clouds.  

 

The track comes to us courtesy of LYFSTYL Music's new mixtape AD/VEN/TURE which is free and awesome.  10 exclusive tracks that are a lot warmer than the shitty January weather in NYC right now.  

Gospels - Animal Feelings

Really beautiful single from rising NYC band Gospels.  Thanks to @JasonRezvan for the tip.  The above photo has nothing to do with the band, but when I google-imaged the name and song title, it's what came up, and Noah's looking so badass I just had to use it.  

Damien Jurado - Museum Of Flight

Maybe one of these days I'll put together a post of my all-time favorite songs by Damien Jurado.  In the meantime, here's a gem from 2012's fantastic Maraqopa.  

new Apparat on the way

In 2011 Apparat released what was, in my opinion, one of the year's most under appreciated records. The Devils Walk is full of moody atmospheric electronics, with vocals teaming with loss. Each track builds in sound and texture, often reaching peaks reminiscent of another 2011 record that pulled in much more attention, M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming.  While that record deserved much of the accolades that were thrown at it, The Devil's Walk seemed to fly under the radar, perhaps bc Apparat is more known for his club productions and DJ sets than for creating intricate emotional electronic pop.  But Apparat's record, for me, held levels of depth and headphone bliss that Hurry Up, We're Dreaming felt capable of, only to be traded in for more neon pop flare.  To put it simply, if you're one of the people who helped drive M83 to the top of the charts, take some time with Apparat, its kind of a no brainer.  

So why talk about a 2011 sleeper when 2013 just hit? Well, Apparat's follow up, titled Krieg und Frieden (Music for Theatre) will drop Feb 15th on Mute, and how's this for a concept record: its based on Sebastian Hartmann’s theatre production of Tolstoy’s War & Peace. Thats kind of over my head, but the first single "A Violent Sky" seems to pick up where The Devils Walk left off, delivering a slice of electronic pop beauty and subtle build.