EP Review / Stream: Glass Cities - Mitch Murder

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​Glass Cities - Mitch Murder

​DhARMA's third release comes hot on the heals of my review of their debut one, Kelly Paven's excellent Alone In The Storm, and they seem to be a little determined to establish some form.

Mitch Murder's Glass Cities is an EP is eighties-inspired instrumental soft-rock and MOR electronics. Listening to this in the same week as Tony Scott's tragic suicide feels more than a little poignant. This whole EP sounds like it could be the soundtrack to Top Gun.

There are plenty of eighties synths then, but it also has the kind of heightened and headstrong emotion you would expect of an eighties Tony Scott movie. Several of the songs are cut through with samples of dialogues from films but it is the music that is largely left to do the talking.

Unusual as it is to hear 80s rock without vocals - the soundtrack is almost as reminiscent of a video game soundtrack as a movie one - but the melodies hold their own. The squealing guitar on 'Best Of The Best' dominates the first half of the track and the synths knock the remaining minutes out of the park. On 'Heading South' the vocal samples and motorbikes create more feeling than a vocal ever could - and anything more would be overkill.

In addition to the five original tracks there are also two remixes - one by Sylvester and the other Nite Sprite - and refreshly both embrace to atmosphere of the originals, sounding like products of the eighties themselves.

Glass Cities is released on 1 September through DhARMA. Stream it below via Soundcloud or pre-order it on Bandcamp:​

Stream: Valedictorian - Dan Friel

What's that noise?​

​Only your bleeding heart bursting out of your chest, up your throat, out through your nose, blood-soaked wings-a-flapping, taking your soul and good times and regrets and tears and chest thumping bravado with it... This new release from Dan Friel of Parts & Labor is ridiculously epic.

Like a night on poppers and Red Bull, this quickens my pulse and deadens my remorse - it's a bit like drinking through vomit.

This is taken from Valedictorian/Exoskeleton, which is released on 15 october through Thrill Jockey on 12". Look out for remixes by Peaking Lights (yes, I'm excited too) and Moss of Aura.​

EP Review: (Who Knows) Where Love Goes - Last Magpie

(Who Knows) Where Love Goes - Last Magpie​

A lose and open-air funk number that rises its head here on Magpie's '(Who Knows) Where Love Goes'.

Heavy sun beats down on the title track's ambient house but it's the warm garage rhythms that capture the soul and ensure this track lodges itself in your brain. The lofty title track has just enough time to soak in, a tight bassline tapping out the all important melodies and a blissfully intimate bass. Things quickly accelerate following this gentle start however...

'Pilau Rice' quickly slips past, tightly grab the listener and pulling them forward into a sweaty, intimate play on words. As innocent as the lead in may have been this is no time for mere pleasantries, a bumping bass creating a crescendo bodies will struggle to ignore.

For every intense up-beat 'Pilau Rice' hits following track, 'Don't Know Why', embraces a corresponding drop. The pacing may be a little disconcerting when consumed in one sitting but it is difficult not to feel and subsequently embrace the amorous hot embrace played out on the closing two tracks of this release.

'Don't Know Why' is drenched is sweaty reverb and old school house atmosphere - particularly evident on the closing refrain. 'Club Whore' on the other hand is slower to build but bass the close and heavy bass is uncompromising in its approach.

If you have a feel for deep, heavy takes on soulful house and dubstep it is hard to resist this forthcoming release from Last Magpie - it's warm, familiar and sexy.  It is released through Hypercolour on 20 August, check it out on Soundcloud below:

Download: You'll Never Surf Again - Raymond Byron & The White Freighter

​It's baking hot outside and I've just been enjoying this Raymond Byron and The White Freighter cover of Dan Reeder's 'You'll Never Surf Again'. It's a laid back but smokey folk record, the atmosphere thick with resignation. It's not too dissimilar from the original (check that out on Spotify here if you are a member) but it has just a little more sparkle in the treble and the sixties-inspired production.

​This is taken from the album Little Death Shaker, out next month on Asthmatic Kitty, and the press release describes the sound pretty well:

Stripped of all noise influences and focusing on straight-up songs, Little Death Shaker is a record evocative of late nights and dusty parking lots, long drives and boozy hookups. This is the work of a dude who’s spent his youth and young manhood on tour and it comes through in both the music and the lyrics.

​Check out 'You'll Never Surf Again' above in the Soundcloud player and if you like it be sure to grab the free download.

Stream: My Head - Mock & Toof

I've been a big fan of Mock & Toof, AKA London-based producers Duncan Stump and Nick Woolfson, for five years or so. Over that time they've managed to put together a number of nice EPs and a slew of great remixes.​

They are now due to release a follow up to their debut album Turning Echoes in October and the track 'My Head', above, is the first material to emerge from it.​

'My Head' features vocals from Swiss artist Ghostape and it's a lovely muted little house track. Analogue synths and a really subtle little bumping bass line make this one of the most effortlessly cool tracks I've heard in some time. Consider me excited for the new album.​

The My Head EP is released through Tiny Sticks on 17 September on vinyl and digital release.​