BEACH FOSSILS — Shallow (Shallow 7”, 2012)

Looks like it’s going to be a good year for Captured Tracks artists. Perfectly fine with the continuation of the darker sound that they did for What A Pleasure.

neo-noir:

Beach Fossils are releasing a new 7” on February 21st. Here’s the A-Side, Shallow. It’s continuing the trend set by the What A Pleasure EP; a darker vibe than their original album. Download.

WILD NOTHING — Nowhere (Nowhere 7”, 2012)

Listen to the new Wild Nothing single, ‘Nowhere,’ featuring some nice guest vocals from Andrea Estella of Twin Sister.

DANIEL ROSSEN — Saint Nothing (Silent Hour/Golden Mile EP, 2012)

Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear released a track from his upcoming EP Silent Hour / Golden Mile last week. It’s beautiful and well-suited for a cold, rainy day like today.

Silent Hour / Golden Mile will be released March 19 on Warp.

MOLLY NILSSON — I Hope You Die (History, 2011)

Was turned on to Molly Nilsson’s new album, History, via Gorilla vs Bear a week or two ago and it’s been on repeat ever since. She makes sort of 80s-tinged electronic pop music that, as Rob notes, sounds something like The Knife during their Deep Cuts era. There’s something very nice about the way her vocals contrast the rest of the music.

Buy History from her label, Dark Skies Association.

GRIMES — Genesis (Visions, 2012)

Everything’s already been said. Maybe if you see it one more time, you’ll listen — because this is something you don’t want to miss. Listen with headphones and listen loud.

Be sure to look for her album, Visions, in 2/2012 via 4AD.

MICHAEL COLLINS — LIKE THIS BEFORE (Violet Flame, 2011)

Michael Collins, formerly of Prince Rama, played in Blacksburg last weekend but I was unfortunately unable to attend. Luckily, my friends were able to be there and got a chance to pick up one of his cassette tapes (which are awesome and filled with lavender and holographic cards.) After listening to a little bit of the tape, I found his Bandcamp and downloaded the album, Violet Flame, and I’m hooked.

I especially love this song, “Like This Before” and his cover of The Flirts’ “Helpless (You Took My Love).” All of the music on Violet Flame is an insane mix of post-punk, synthpop, and psychedelia that somehow really comes together into a cohesive sound. I wrote a review of the album for the Collegiate Times, so I’ll post a link to that on Tuesday when it is published on their website.

Download Violet Flame now for free from Michael Collins’ Bandcamp.

PANDA BEAR — Alsatian Darn (A Capella via Tomboy Boxset, 2011)

A very generous member of the Collected Animals forum ripped the Tomboy Boxset yesterday, including the record consisting of a few a capella versions of some of the songs. Here is ‘Alsatian Darn,’ beautiful in its own right, but even more impressive with just the vocals standing on their own. You can hear all of the strange little vocal effects whirling around in the background, as well as the overall strength of Panda Bear’s voice.

If you want to buy the Tomboy boxset, you might want to hurry — only 5,000 were made!

ROSTAM — Wood (Digital Single, 2011)

So Rostam Batmanglij, of Vampire Weekend and Discovery, posted up a new solo song a few days ago called ‘Wood.’

I’m aware that this track made the rounds already, but I just got around to listening to it and I think I love it. There’s something that’s so effortlessly cool about the way he sings, with those hushed lyrics about sleeping under the sunlight and cherry trees. The Middle Eastern vibes are nice, too, with the layers of sitar and traditional drumming. The result is a really beautiful track that just sounds so organic and natural it’s hard to deny.

You can get Rostam’s new track over at his Tumblr.

HOOP DREAMS — Under the Snow (Live at Glasslands, 2011)

NYC Taper posted up his recording of Hoop Dreams’ set from their show at Glasslands this summer! If you’ve been wanting to hear more from the band since ‘XCPR’, and you’ve already listened to ‘Memory Light’, then you’ll definitely want to hear the nine other songs they play live.

I’ve posted up ‘Under the Snow’  as a little bit of a sample of the quality of the recording, which is actually really good. I know what I’ll be listening to for the rest of the day…

Download the set via NYC Taper