THE SOFT MOON TALKS FORTHCOMING LP WITH STEREOGUM

SHARES JOHN FOXX AND THE MATHS COLLABORATION “EVIDENCE”

After a pair of lauded releases in 2010′s self-titled LP and 2011′s Total Decay EP, The Soft Moon are proud to announce their forthcoming second LP, Zeros, due this fall for the ever-reliable Captured Tracks. Though still a ways off on the horizon, The Soft Moon mastermind Luis Vasquez took time to talk to Stereogum about the new record in today’s Progress Report. For more about the recording process and what to expect from the next album, read the piece below.

http://stereogum.com/1034261/progress-report-the-soft-moon/franchises/progress-report/

Additionally, The Soft Moon recently released a new song via Twitter that was created in collaboration with legendary electronic musician John Foxx and his new band The Maths. The track “Evidence” was born naturally out of the two artists’ mutual appreciation for one another. Speaking with Artrocker last year, Luis had this to say of John Foxx’s influence on his own music,”Foxx’s Metamatic album is what led me to discover the Arp Odyssey, the most crucial instrument in my collection, and the key synthesizer used in creating my unique sound. So, that album is very important to me and what I do.” With regard to the collaboration, John Foxx said, “The Soft Moon are where minimalism maximises into a new universe of possibilities. It’s an absolute joy for us to work with them.” This momentous collaboration will be memorialized with a one-sided 7″ featuring “Evidence” due June 26th from Captured Tracks.

Listen to “Evidence”, the result of their collective labor below now, and prepare yourself for Zeros.

TOUR DATES

• 05/18 Arhaus, DK – Pop Revo Festival
• 05/19 Stockholm, SE – Debaser
• 05/20 Malmo, SE – Debaser
• 05/22 Copenhagen, DK – Loppen
• 05/23 Berlin, DE – Bi Nuu
• 05/24 Amsterdam, NL – Sugarfactory
• 05/25 London, UK – XOYO
• 05/26 London, UK – ATP @ Ally Pally
• 05/27 Paris, FR – Cabarete Sauvage
• 05/28 Kortijk, BE – Sfinxen Festival
• 05/31 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg *

* = w/ Cosmetics and Black Marble

LINKS

For more John Foxx info visit: www.metamatic.com

Follow The Soft Moon on Twitter: twitter.com/thesoftmoon

SO MANY WIZARDS PREMIERE “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” VIA STEREOGUM

So Many Wizards, a dynamic four piece from Los Angeles, has been causing a stir with furious live performances and a sound that Aquarium Drunkard describes as an “enigmatic blend of pop, rock, ballads, and zany nuggets” that come together to form “a cohesive whole.”

The band started as the solo project of Nima Kazerouni, who crafted the first So Many Wizards songs to cope with his anxiety after a childhood that began with an escape from war-torn Iran and took him through Europe, South America, and a month in the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica before landing him in LA.

Kazerouni found a community of musicians at famed underground venues like the Smell and Pehrspace and recruited a band of scene veterans including Erik Felix, Geoff Geis, and Frank Maston. As a four-piece, the band has become a centerpiece of LA’s vibrant DIY scene, recently representing the “new class” at the Smell’s sold out 14th Anniversary show with Best Coast and Abe Vigoda.

The band is playing Make Music Pasadena on June 16 with Grimes and Cults and a show with Gardens & Villa at the Troubadour on June 29.

So Many Wizards debut LP “Warm Nothing” drops August 14th on JAXART Records and will be distributed through French Kiss Label Group.

LINKS

http://www.facebook.com/somanywizards

http://www.twitter.com/somanywizards

http://www.somanywizards.com/

Tune in at 9:00PM PST Friday night to hear live performances from Cosmonauts and Tomorrow Tulips

Like an alien-infected comet from a b-grade sci-fi celluloid dream, Magic Monster Radio is crash landing into the suburban sprawl of Fullerton, California this Friday night to live stream the garage rockers Cosmonauts’ “If You Wanna Die Then I Wanna Die” 12″ LP Release Party from punk mecca, Burger Records.  Tomorrows Tulips are set to kick start the party.

Cosmonauts have already garnered buzz for their trashed and smashed garage rock, distinguishable by its phantasmic vocals; the frustrated sound of dead teenagers waking up in suburban Heaven only to realize they’re still grounded for ditching class to shoot speed behind Safeway. Editor of LA Record Dan Collins compared a Cosmonauts live show as “if the Velvet Underground had turned to the MC5 at their Boston Tea Party concert in 1968 and, instead of insulting them, had turned and made love to them—and that was how Lou Reed wound up wearing that dog collar.” Maximum Rock N Roll’s Sean Dougan described Cosmonauts on record as “Heavy, without losing one single hook, repetitive without being the least bit boring and shamelessly stepped in the glory years of acid rock without being a boring regurgitating hipster.”

Friday night’s show celebrates the release of Cosmonauts’ latest full length “If You Wanna Die Then I Wanna Die” released May 15 through Burger Records. Magic Monster Radio will be on hand to stream the event live around the world so no one misses out on what is sure to be a raging show. The event can be streamed live starting at 9:00PM PST by going to Magic Monster Radio or through iTunes by choosing Magic Monster Radio under the Alternative category.

LINKS

COSMONAUTS ON FACEBOOK

COSMONAUTS ON BANDCAMP

BURGER RECORDS SITE 

BURGER RECORDS ON FACEBOOK

MAGIC MONSTER RADIO

MAGIC MONSTER SITE

MAGIC MONSTER ON FACEBOOK 

MP3: “Chasing My Mind”

VIDEO: “Hidden Structures”

MP3: “ABC City”

Despite being perpetually too poor to drink dusted dive-bar drafts, Stockholm’s Holograms still manage to projectile vomit their fare share of poison. Their regurgitations originate more from the nausea inherent with menial labor in the desolate warehouses of Sweden than alcohol abuse; ultimately making it more enjoyable to sift through.

In defiance of their decrepit instruments (a collective estimated worth of a handful of Kronas) Holograms emit a seemingly impossible energy. Their sound synthesizes the drudgery of dismal existence with a lust for something better; echoing both the violent abandonment of punk as well as some of the electronic gloss of early 80s new wave. Their sound has proven far too large for Stockholm’s charred pavement and empty streets; leading us to think it’s about time for all of us to get a little drunker together.

Holograms’ self-titled debut is set to arrive on July 10th; check out new single “Chasing My Mind” below now.

POP. 1280 SHARE A KILLER VIDEO FOR “BODIES IN THE DUNE”

Today, Vice / Noisey share the new video for “Bodies In The Dunes,” the latest single from the grating New York cyberpunks Pop. 1280. The video was directed by Jacqueline Castel, a hyper-talented director who makes tense, kinetic work under her Future Primitive production house. Castel’s videos are stark and confrontational-she’s created incredible work for Zola Jesus, Naked On The Vague, Blank Dogs, and a bunch of other pretty bleak and downbeat acts.

The video is not for the faint of heart-it was based loosely on a Long Island serial killer who was responsible for murdering four prostitutes in cold blood and dumping their bodies in “heavy underbrush along a beachfront causeway.”

The track is from Pop. 1280′s recent LP, The Horror, which was released through Sacred Bones earlier this year. You can order the record right here. Castel was also on a panel discussion Vice / Noisey hosted at Internet Week this past Tuesday-you can check that out here.

TOUR DATES

• 5/19 – Detroit, MI @ Jumbo’s !
• 5/20 – Chicago, IL @ Treasure Town $
• 5/21 – Minneapolis, MN @ Memory Lanes #
• 5/22 – Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium (Dempsey’s Upstairs)
• 5/24 – Seattle, WA @ Josephine ^
• 5/25 – Portland, OR – TBA
• 5/26 – San Francisco, CA @ Submission (Warm Leatherette Party)
• 5/27 – Oakland, CA @ The New Parish @
• 5/28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Fenix 5-4  *
• 5/29 – Los Angeles, CA – The Down and Out
• 5/30 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar )
• 5/31 – Tucson, AZ @ The District %
• 6/1 – Las Cruces, NM @ Trainyard
• 6/2 – Austin, TX @ The Parrish (Chaos in Tejas)
• 6/3 – Tulsa, OK @ Yellow Brick Road +
• 6/4 – Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone >
• 6/5 – Nashville, TN – @ The End w/ Useless Eaters
• 6/6 – Asheville, NC – TBA
• 6/7 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
• 6/9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands

! =  w/ Frustrations, Protomartyr & Body Holographic

$ = w/ w/ Running, Brain Idea & Toupee

# = w/ w/ STNNNG

^ = w/ Dreamsalon & Haunted Horses, Perpetual Ritual

@ = w/ Ceremony, WHIRR, Gun Outfit, ++++ & Big Kids

* = w/ Merx & Shark Toys

) = w/ Beaters, Baptism of Thieves

% = w/ Rubylyth

+ = w/ Western Survival & NoWater

> = w/ Mark Sultan & True Sons Of Thunder

? = w/ O’Death and Colin L. Orchestra

 

STREAM: “In A Phantom Mood”

Shintaro Sakamoto begins a new and perhaps unexpected chapter in his storied career with the release of his debut solo album, the otherworldly folkpop masterpiece How to Live with a Phantom. For over two decades Sakamoto was the frontman and leader of Japanese psychedelic phenomenon Yura Yura Teikoku, a Tokyo-based band that formed in 1989 as part of the burgeoning underground scene based around Koenji’s legendary UFO Club, appearing on the PSF label’s iconic Tokyo Flashback compilations and signing to the Captain Trip imprint. And yet across their 20-year trajectory, they rocketed out of the underground and achieved massive mainstream success throughout Japan with an always-evolving psych-pop sound that eventually found them working with Sony Music and headlining major music festivals across the country. It was a rare case where great, boundary-breaking music resonated with the masses. While the group only ever played a handful of shows outside of their homeland, they achieved cult status throughout the world and saw several albums reissued in limited pressings in the U.S., including the critically acclaimed Hollow Me/Beautiful on James Murphy’s DFA label.

Immediately following Yura Yura Teikoku’s break-up in 2010, Sakamoto began recording as a solo artist – truly solo, he plays all the instruments here save percussion and woodwinds – and after more than a year holed up in his home studio, How to Live with a Phantom was born. The resulting album is a bold stylistic departure, even for an artist whose career has been defined by them. It is a single-minded exploration of the sounds of 1970s radio pop from around the globe, combining American folk-rock and the evocative Japanese pop music that was influenced by it, but simultaneously referencing everything from French pop to Afro-funk, tropicalia, Krautrock and the lighter side of psychedelia. Most of the songs are built around Sakamoto’s hypnotic electric-bass grooves (he learned to play for these recordings), a crisp drum set and bubbling percussion, layered with dreamy guitars and vintage synthesizers, and topped by meticulously arranged female vocal harmonies, horns, and Sakamoto’s own languid yet deeply expressive lead vocals. It’s a set that’s both sun-drenched and full of melancholy, and while the musical references and inspirations may be clear, How to Live with a Phantom is a wholly original album that will connect to a broad spectrum of listeners – from folk and pop aficionados to world music fans, psych-heads and many more. We could not be more excited to be releasing How to Live with a Phantom as Other Music Recording Co.’s debut full-length, and we know you will be as moved by this record as we are.

SHINTARO SAKAMOTO LINKS:

Label – http://www.othermusicrecordingco.com/

 

STREAM MAGIC MONSTER’S 24 HOUR LIVE RADIO BROADCAST FUNDRAISER HIGHLIGHTS

Only the self-professed strangest radio station in LA, Magic Monster Radio, could manifest a 24-hour circus in a week’s time. When it came time to raise cash for their appearance at SXSW, this most motley of crews called on friends new and old to join them as they braved sleep deprivation, ghost stories, and close encounters of every kind in a 24-hour live broadcast heard round the world. Our intrepid heroines and heroes forged through a hybrid terrain of Wonderland and Oz, meeting characters stranger and stranger, barring them from sweet slumberland in the name of quality radio. Audio recordings of these shocking events have surfaced and now Magic Monster is making this diary of the damned available to stream from their website. But be warned as these events are not for the faint of heart. Or for those that require at least 7 hours of sleep a night to function.

In these recordings you will hear such shocking moments as Alex Guillén of angular art punks Deathday taking a break from helping out with the recording of the new DVA DAMAS album to request a Section 25 track in tribute to the late Christopher Reimer of Women before Lucas Lanthier and James Powell of The Deadfly Ensemble serenade the studio with some saucily stripped sonic stories selected from their forthcoming album. Lanthier is all high heels while Powell is high comedy in the face of the impending 24 hours, demanding listeners bid on his hand-crafted lightbox depicting an animal of their choice. The first shock comes early with the impromptu performance of disillusioned dilettantes Medusa Complex who haven’t appeared live since the notorious show a few years back when Medusa mouthpiece Jason the Terrible was forced to wrestle his mic back from a nude Karen Centerfold mid-song. It’s a wonder anyone survived to tell the tale, let alone improvise a musical piece that seems to find a magic amidst this mayhem. Cold crooner Scott Milton of the Present Moment phones in some of his favorite tracks while synth scenesters Comrade Stallen and Nove Mura drop by to introduce the latest single from Stallen’s black disco project, Stallengrad. Stallen and Nove Mura stick around to critique a white hot threeway (phone call, that is) with the lovely ladies of Violet Tremors who are also phoning in some requests and momentarily, the sleepless Magic Monster staff seem to forget that this is just the beginning.

Apocalyptic apostles Bestial Mouths connect from rehearsal where they are preparing for their upcoming show opening for psych-industrialists Psychic TV while So Wrong prepare a set of wistful tunes about good times with bad drugs. Half of the Dignitary Loss drops by to play a set of maudlin Western goth, cheered on by the sleepless Magic Monster madmen and various members of So Wrong and Peg Leg Love who offer intoxication, though the Magic Monster crew know that they have no chance of making it through the 24 hours if they sip from such sweet spirits this early in the day. Phone calls of support continue to pour in from Magic Monster’s favorite avant-garde soul jazz icon Gary Wilson, Melissa Pleckham and Ken Ramos of Hexham Heads requesting some Babes in Toyland for Ken’s birthday, Chadwick of the synth-noir Secret Society of the Sonic 6, and BRANES safely tucked away in bed in their matching underwear, casually calling to chat with “Brian Eno and his robot.”

As the maddening darkness thickens, further live performances ensue, keeping the sirens of sleep at bay. Leti Lesmin of Blue Jungle and Lately Blu Blu pairs off with Jefferson Quiltee of Haunted Tiger to do a grab bag of wispy, acoustic numbers. High production psychedelic fantasy reinvigorates the sleepless ones during the witching hour courtesy of Native Fauna while post punk offerings from Peeling Grey and Programmed For Pleasure lull listeners into the hazards of a waking dream. Berlin’s House of Light tear through a blinding set of hot electric and Cleopatra’s Tattoo create warm, elegant acoustic sounds from Melbourne, Australia through Skype. Zach Malner of Number 2 adds rustic charm with a twangy solo set, a real source of comfort in the darkest of hours, while Stephi Duckula, president of the Echo Park Ornithology Club, prepares a set of bird songs to remind the struggling staff of times when the sun still shone.

At this point, sanity has devolved into a luxury and Magic Monster headquarters is contacted by their only extraterrestrial DJ, Jennifer from JC Penny, for an exclusive interview (very likely the first of its kind). This weakens restraint enough to give way to stories of UFOs and ghosts from the zombified Magic Monster staff until daybreak, when multimedia artist Loto Ball performs some carnivalesque rarities over Skype. Magic Monster’s favorite dandy of Rotterdam, Harry Merry, calls in to discuss Willy Nelson “America’s most respected junkie” and Valentina of Mushy phones from Rome to talk about her pet bunny’s eating habits. As the Magic Monster staff struggles through the final hours, Magic Monster’s mastermind Carisa Bianca Mellado of The Shadow Fire performs a brief acoustic set to raise the troops’ spirits, followed by another acoustic set from Ray Day, performing selections from his solo album. Amidst the smell of fresh pancakes, cheap liquor, and stale coffee, Magic Monster closes its first (and if there’s any mercy in this universe for those poor brave souls) last 24 Hour Fundraiser. And you can hear highlights of this story of courage, strength, and stupidity here.

LINKS

MAGIC MONSTER RADIO

MAGIC MONSTER OFFICIAL SITE

MP3: “Greatest Hits”

VIDEO: “Someone Purer” (Dir. by Jem Goulding)

Mystery Jets’ fourth album Radlands will be released on June 5th in North America. The album was recorded in Austin, Texas and Streatham, London and was co-produced by Mystery Jets and Dan Carey (Hot Chip, Franz Ferdinand, Emiliana Torrini). The band will be touring North America in June, opening for Keane.

Click here to watch the official album trailer

Mystery Jets are Blaine Harrison, Will Rees and Kapil Trivedi. On the making of the album Radlands, Blaine explains:

We’ve always wanted to make a record in America and after touring Serotonin the time felt perfect to go and do it. Our first three albums were entirely conceived and recorded in London so going out to Austin felt like the furthest place from everything we knew.  We arrived with a handful of songs, but one in particular felt like it captured the spirit of why we had come there. It was called Radlands (a fusion of the 1970s Terrence Malick film Badlands and Redlands, Keith Richard’s Sussex estate), which is also what we named our studio; a big old wooden house on the banks of the Colorado river.

All we brought on the plane were the guitars on our backs, so we ended up borrowing all this amazing valve gear from an old guy called jack who ran a little studio up in the hills-which is why the songs sound the way they do. In the daytime we wrote lyrics on the porch and in the evenings a family of Deer would gather in the back yard to hear us play. Some nights we drove into town to drink and bring people back to play on the songs.

When we arrived home, it was hard to believe any of it even happened. It somehow all felt like a strange dream. But when Dan Carey heard it and invited us down to his studio we listened back to everything and it was all there, it was real. All we were missing were some gospel singers, which he found in the Streatham community ladies choir…

Twelve months on, and we are gearing up to take Radlands on the road. Its been a long time and we cannot wait to see you all again.

xBlaine

Comic:

The limited edition double vinyl format of Radlands (500 copies only) will include a 32+ page illustrated comic called Radlands – The Ballad of Emmerson Lonestar and features covers by Eisner Award-winning British comic artist Glenn Fabry, famous for his work on Preacher and The Authority. Richard Elms co-wrote the comic with Mystery Jets and this is his first published comic.

MYSTERY JETS

• 11 June 2012  Brooklyn Bowl   Brooklyn, NY
• 12 June 2012  House Of Blues  Boston, MA *
• 14 June 2012  Music Center At Strathmore North Bethesda, MD *
• 15 June 2012  Beacon Theatre  New York NY *
• 16 June 2012  Merriam Theater Philadelphia PA *
• 18 June 2012  Olympia de Montreal     Montreal QC *
• 19 June 2012  The Sound Academy       Toronto ON *
• 21 June 2012  Marathon Music Works    Nashville TN *
• 22 June 2012  Vic Theatre     Chicago IL *
• 23 June 2012  Pabst Theatre   Milwaukee WI *
• 25 June 2012  Paramount Theatre       Denver CO *
• 26 June 2012  The Gallivan Center     Salt Lake City UT *
• 29 June 2012  The Orpheum Theatre   Los Angeles CA *
• 30 June 2012  The Fox Theatre  Oakland CA *

* = w/ Keane

MYSTERY JETS LINKS:

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/mysteryjets    

Official Site –  http://www.mysteryjets.com 

Twitter –  http://www.twitter.com/mysteryjets 

LISTEN TO MAGIC MONSTER RADIO

DOWNLOAD FREE EP “LIQUOR EYES” VIA NACOSTA’S SITE 

Sentimental siblings Brandon and Shane Graham, the core of Los Angeles-based Nacosta, sat down with LA’s oddest radio station, Magic Monster, last week to discuss the release of their new (and absolutely free) EP, Liquor Eyes.

“It means to be hidden or withdrawn,” Brandon explains when prompted to define the band’s moniker, though even a cursory listen of Liquor Eyes reveals a heart-on-sleeve psychedelic outpouring of feeling and warmth.

Somehow Liquor Eyes manages to channel the heat of a ’70s Summer, though it’s clear these brothers are too young to have touched that decade. Even “Secret Destroyer”, the most unashamedly rocking moment, evokes a longing for simpler times -  bare feet in dry grass, childhood adventure, and sexless crushes. From cover to content, themes of life-giving pollen and decaying dust permeate, dragging a hazy film over a burning sunset that turns a beach into a beautiful silver lining of an apocalypse aftermath. All of this gives way to an Indian summer that demands romance and a coming-of-age that threatens to shatter innocence or encase it in a glass prison to preserve it eternally.

Magic Monster Radio will be broadcasting their full interview with Nacosta throughout the week on the Magic Monster New Music Hour.

LISTEN TO MAGIC MONSTER’S INTERVIEW WITH NACOSTA ON MAGIC MONSTER’S NEW MUSIC HOUR

• Tuesday 05/15 6:00PM PST
• Thursday 05/17 1:30PM PST
• Sunday 05/20 6:00PM PST
• Monday 05/21 Noon PST

You can tune in from anywhere in the world either by going to http://radio.magicmonsterrecords.com/ or on itunes by selecting Magic Monster Radio under Alternative.

NACOSTA

• 05/23 – Los Angeles, CA – The Satellite

PRESS FOR NACOSTA’S “LIQUOR EYES” EP

“Flying to pastures new with a Jimi Hendrix start and swiftly moving into a tranquil rest bite of prickly edged fountain streams and rough n’ rounded bushes, the 5-man band of Nacosta dedicate their entire “Liquor Eyes” EP to the state of Los Angeles and all the crazy people who inhabit it.”

-Aerial Noise

“Nacosta’s influences, Nick Drake and Sonic Youth, are definitely prevalent in its music, but the new EP still has an organic and fresh appeal. The title track, “Liquor Eyes,” is a beautiful song filled with several layers and textures created by the plinking of a guitar and lightness of a keyboard.”

-Jenay Ross, Daily Trojan (USC)

LINKS

Nacosta on Facebook

Nacosta Official Site

Magic Monster on Facebook

Magic Monster Official Site