Flash Trading – “Vini” [2017]

Posted on July 31, 2017 by Very Warm

A person doing data entry in the 90s unwittingly cracks the code of their computer network’s mainframe and is engulfed into a dreamworld of technological wonder.

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White Poppy – “Hypnotized” [2017]

Posted on July 25, 2017 by Very Warm

Cotton candy clouds caress a lazy midday sun

Looking for some dream pop of the ultra-luxurious and luscious kind? This White Poppy album The Pink Haze Of Love will absolutely be your new fluffy pillow. It harkens back to when that genre tag of “hypnagogic pop” was floating around. As silly as that was, this really does make me think of music that sounds like the most refreshing sleep of your life. Like the kind where you wake up and you feel renewed. It’s lovely. Listen here.

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Yaeji – “Guap” [2017]

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Very Warm

Literally the coolest person you’ve ever met.

I wasn’t hip on Yaeji’s self-titled EP released earlier this year, but I recently revisited it and I haven’t been able to stop listening. Picture me: a large, awkward, bumbling nerd walking down the streets of Brooklyn, NY. Pretty rough, right? Well I ain’t feeling the heat when I’m listening to this song. It’s one of the coolest things ever recorded. It will transform you into the coolest person on the planet.

You’ll feel like shopping at an expensive clothing store. Or like the song says: wearing all black in the club, sipping on some bud, counting all your guap. Or maybe you’re just like me, walking to work or riding the subway. Anywhere you listen, you will feel the effects of “Guap.”

This song is technically a cover of a Mall Grab tune, but Yaeji breathed a new, silky smooth life into it and improves it in every way. She did the same thing with “Passionfruit” this year as well. How about that? We need more Yaeji in our lives. Please, Yaeji. Help us.

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Revisiting 2013

Posted on July 23, 2017 by Very Warm

If you know anything about me at all, you know I’m obsessed with comparing and contrasting different years based on their music. How does one year compare with the next? How does my top 10 records from one year compare to the top 10 of another year? I’m also often deeply immersed in nostalgic feelings during the comparison process, as most of the records I organize by year bring me right back to the environment when I was listening to them heavily. This feeling is not unique to me in any way, but I seem to have a very intense memory when it comes to these things. Probably because I’m so motivated to listen to things from the current year, so I often don’t go back to things from the past unless I’m either looking for a nostalgia trip or something really sticks with me.

I wanted to start a series of revisiting years to see how they’ve aged, just in case I’ve found some new, rich flavors that I didn’t pick up on at the time, or found some rotten eggs, stinking up the catalog of that year. I’m starting off with 2013, because over the past few years it’s taken on an interesting legacy in my mind and I’d like to expand on it more.

At the time, 2013 was like heaven on Earth for a music fan like myself. New albums from legendary artists like Boards Of Canada, The Knife, Daft Punk, My Bloody Valentine, Arcade Fire, The Flaming Lips, Kanye West, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Deerhunter, The National and Yo La Tengo? You gotta be kidding me. I was in bliss, feverishly soaking up all these albums the best I could and deeming all of them instant classics. After waiting so long for follow-up albums from these bands, I was certain that they were flawless and that 2013 was the best year in music that I’ll see in a long time. I was even tweeting that hyperbole in March, before most of the really good stuff came out.

There were plenty of new favorites for me this year as well, the main leader of the pack being Arca and everything he touched along with it. His mixtape &&&&& is one of my most-listened to records of all time and his production on is the reason FKA Twigs’ EP2 isn’t far behind that. Other than that, I discovered Kelela, Fear Of Men, Grave Babies, Postiljonen, Ovlov, Speedy Ortiz, Infinity Shred, and a few others. Pretty good finds that have offered me a bit of dividends later on, but I feel like didn’t make as much of a mark as other years’ new artists.

Below you’ll find my Top 50 records from 2013 as I ranked them that year.

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AIM LOW – “Low Hanging Fruit” [2017]

Posted on July 22, 2017 by Very Warm

 

As you enter the infamous chasms of the House Of Leaves home, you find an immense, hypnotic peace instead of the chilling, creeping self-destruction that others who traverse its black catacombs undoubtedly unravel into. 

AIM LOW is a band from Montreal that love to dabble in the dark arts of shoegaze, drone and experimentalism. Basically taking the guitar & all the gear that comes with it and making it all sound like the choirs of the damned, the horns from the heavens, or the wails of a forbidden technology that mankind should not dare tap into. It’s all quite cosmic sounding, despite being made by human hands. But let’s not let the human side distract you, unless you really would like to know that for your listening experience.

“Low Hanging Fruit” is the masterful centerpiece from their record Scratched Out, which was released earlier this year. It achieves what I think all perfect drones should do, which is to have a low, hypnotic refrain that hums as a meditative guidepost underneath the more active, hi-end chaos unfolding throughout the song. You can have all the dissonance and destruction you want in a drone song, or even the most minimal of melodies and chord structures – but if your song doesn’t have somewhere I can plant my feet and rest my head to watch everything unfold, then I’m not sure what to think of it. Some of my favorite ambient tracks also achieve this, like Eluvium’s “The Unfinished” and Preslav Literary School’s “Francis Servain Mirkovic.” But unlike those two songs, which are mostly soothing and featherlight, “Low Hanging Fruit” is heavy and gnashes at the senses.

Here, AIM LOW delight itself with shrieks of feedback that drift in and out of frame amongst other powerful sounds. Buzzsaw-like guitars actively dismantle some sort of establishment throughout the track. There’s the occasional low grumble of a fictional behemoth lurking in the darkness. Overall, the sound never stops – it just stretches its long limbs out into the sky and occupies as much space as possible. It’s as if you’re sitting under a punishing waterfall, but embodying a muted peace. The recording process itself took place in a church and pretty much all the reverb you hear in the song is natural, so the setting is fitting. One can find solace from the deluge of real world pain in a church. All the anguish still exists, but in this space it takes on a numbed-down quality.

Listen to all of Scratched Out on Spotify or Bandcamp.

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Recommended Albums: June 2017

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Very Warm

This here’s the first installment of Recommended Albums where I bring in the “new format” from my previous few list posts. I have a lot of fun with it and people seem to enjoy it so there we go. June was a pretty OK month that was greatly overshadowed by the brilliance of May. There were a few solid gems from this month, along with the incredible new Kedr Livanskiy song “Ariadna.” Take a look below and find something you like.

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Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – “An Intention” [2017]

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Very Warm

 

A child looking into a telescope slowly learns the cosmic knowledge of the universe.

Incredibly talented composer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is set to follow up her breakout 2016 album EARS with The Kid, coming October 6, 2017. I couldn’t be more excited. EARS was one of my top listened-to records of 2016 and her show earlier in 2017 was absolutely transcendental. She’s truly one of the most exciting and skilled talents in my listening zone and will gladly place my ears upon anything she puts together.

Upon first listen, this track is a lot more vocally-focused compared to her previous work. Her knotty, intricate synth work is still intact, but here her voice is the lead storyteller instead of the entire portrait of sound demonstrating its intent. Immediately it reminds me of Fever Ray, something I never got on EARS or Euclid. I’m very excited for the LP and her upcoming show at The Good Room in BK.

Keep checking here for new Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith-centered content.

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Boat Club – “Always Away” [2007]

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Very Warm

The existence of anchoring responsibilities and earthly desires are immediately filtered out of existence upon sight of a scenic lagoon at sunset.

Why does Scandinavia always make the best tropical pop music? Something about the icy climate must make the musicians especially good at recreating that balearic sound. Boat Club is from Gothenburg, but they make music that’s suited for a vacation town by the ocean. Truly blissful summer music. The whole mini-LP, Caught The Breeze, is special, but this song is my favorite.

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Omni – “Equestrian” [2017]

Posted on July 6, 2017 by Very Warm

Omni, the ATL dudes who made one of my top favorite records of 2016 are back with a new one this year called Multi-Task, coming in September. This new track “Equestrian” is a both a reminder of why I loved their debut so much and a perfect hype fire-starter for this upcoming new one. It has the killer, bold edges that their debut had, while also adding in smart quirks to make this new song stick out from the old ones. The warbly synth that comes in later is great, as well as the galloping hi-hat that’s totally apt for its name of “Equestrian.”

Be sure to check here in the future for any further Omni-related material.

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A Long Bow: Cole M.G.N.’s ‘Cole M.G.N.’

Posted on June 30, 2017 by Very Warm

I’ve done a lot of thinking about A Long Bow and Warm Visions as a whole. In a way, I’ve realized that Warm Visions is a better blog name than I had originally thought. Ok, think about it: I really only focus on music that I really like here, right? Meaning I think of the music with warm regard. So, this is a blog of warmly-regarded things for people to read about. Eh? Sounds good right? I tried to nab “An Empty Bliss” as the URL but for some reason it was already taken. That also works in two ways, since it’s the name of an album I like a lot, and it’s also a nice descriptor for writing about music. It’s blissful, but not inherently so. Also, A Long Bow is definitely just a “music appreciation” post rather than a full on album review. I’m bowing in appreciation. I’m worshipping the subject. I like what I like, that’s for dang sure. And wow, just wow, do I like this EP here a whole bunch.

Cole M.G.N. is the artistic alias for Cole M. Grief-Neill, a producer, engineer, musician spectacular from LA. He’s been in the funk zone for a good while now through his own group The Samps while also having a hand in projects from artists like Ariel Pink, Julia Holter, Nite Jewel, NxWorries and Beck. To my knowledge, this self-titled EP from 2016 is his only solo work out there under more or less his own name. It’s quite the doozy of an EP, too. I can’t say I’ve heard anything like it.

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