Some diverse offerings in this week's edition of New Tunes day — a trippy heart-sweet video, a trailer for an upcoming album, the first single off a forthcoming LP, and a new video from an old friend. Plus, lots of albums coming out this Friday, and I've included a list of the ones that matter most, with links to full album streams for your listening convenience. You're welcome.Head Over Heart, "I Don't Mind" video
I admit to having cat love. So, the video for "I Don't Mind" caught my heart-strings pretty easily with its trippy kitty. The music is nice, too, dreamy warped pop and lyrics about "a disenfranchised city-dweller, detached from their angst through self-medication and emotional denial" according to co-songwriter Jordan Prather, who, along with Belinda Esquer, make up Head Over Heart. The track was released on the Tuscon, Az. duo's "I Don't Mind"/"Fall Back in Love" 7" limited edition vinyl earlier this summer. Jason Willis, the video's director, explained his inspiration: "The music felt so otherworldly and dreamy that when I first heard the song and closed my eyes, I kept seeing images of falling stars and cloudscapes, but then the lyrics deal with failing romance, escapism and self-delusion! So it all set up an interesting juxtaposition that felt like a surreal and highly personal fantasy to me." Check it below.
Martin Crane, "Physical Therapy"
I don't know Brazos, but Martin Crane is the driving force behind that particular Austin-based indie rock band. He's releasing his first solo outing, Physical Therapy, via INSCAPE on November 20. He recorded the album twice — once live in the studio with fellow collaborators Ian Chang (Son Lux, Matthew Dear) and Spencer Zahn (Twin Shadow, Empress Of), and again solo with just an Ableton. The most fruitful ideas from both recordings were combined to get to its current pop hybrid. There's something really weird and intriguing happening with the title track — Martin sings yearningly over backing vocal calls, chorales, gasps, pants, and heaves that are joined by what seem to be well-placed saxophone samples and a collision of drum machine percussive thumps and bumps with bright synth tones, bleeps and blops. I keep listening to it, over and over again, trying to pick out each individual textural element. It's fun. Check the track below.
Jean-Michel Jarre, Electronica Part 1: The Time Machine [TRAILER]
The French producer, composer and pioneer of electro sounds, specifically those in ambient down-tempo realsm, has been working on a new project for a while now: ELECTRONICA 1: The Time Machine, conceived with Jarre’s wish to shed light on the last few decades of electronic music as well as his own personal history with it, and featuring a generation-spanning roster of 16 talents that include M83, Tangerine Dream, 3D from Massive Attack, Little Boots, Pete Townsend, Fuck Buttons, Moby and John Carpenter. Sounds like it could be pretty dang cool, especially when you see the trailer for it below. The album drops this Fri., Oct. 16, via Columbia. A second volume is supposed to follow in Spring of 2016.
Here We Go Magic, "Tokyo London U.S. Korea" video
Because it's one of my favorite bands and a new LP, Be Small, drops this Friday, I'm sharing another video from the outfit manned by Luke Temple. This track is Krauty, soothing yet driving — with an early '80s retro vibe that also calls on modern synth and guitar texturizing. Enjoy. [Full Album Stream]
ALBUMS OUT THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16
!!! [Chk Chk Chk],As If
Alberta Cross, Alberta Cross [Full Album Stream]
Bryan Adams, Get Up
Beach House, Thank Your Lucky Stars
Black Tide, Chasing Shadows
Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, Country Agenda
Børns, Dopamine
Bronze Radio Return, Light Me Up
Peter Buck, Warzone Earth [Vinyl-only release]
Cult Leader, Lightless Walk
Deerhunter, Fading Frontier
Esmerine, Lost Voices
\\GT//, Beats Misplaced
Inventions, Blanket Waves EP
Jean-Michel Jarre, Electronica Part 1: The Time Machine
Keep Shelly in Athens, Now I'm Ready
Demi Lovato, Confident
Lymbyc Systym, Split Stones
Machine Gun Kelly, General Admission
Majical Cloudz, Are You Alone?
The Mantles, All Odds End [Full Album Stream]
Maritime, Magnetic Bodies/Maps of Bones [Full Album Stream]
Naytronix, Mister Divine
Neon Indian, VEGA INTL. Night School [Full Album Stream]
The Plot In You, Happiness In Self Destruction
Princess Century, Progress
PROF, Liability
Raury, All We Need
Josh Ritter, Sermon on the Rocks
Saxon, Battering Ram
The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Rockin' Rudolph
A Silent Film, A Silent Film
Small Black, Best Blues [Full Album Stream]
Son Little, Son Little [Full Album Stream]
State Champs, Around The World And Back
Supersuckers, Holdin' the Bag
Sam Tiba, Not Dead Yet EP
The Twilight Sad,Òran Mór Session
Chris Walla, Tapes Loops
Wax Idols, American Tragic
YACHT, I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler [Full Album Stream]
Young Rival, Interior Light
Zombi, Shape Shift