July provided us with a massive compilation, boasting 18 tracks that span over an hour. As expected with a compilation of that length, there are plenty of interesting stylistic pursuits inside. The Stepkids nod to the ’70s by tackling a genius fusion of soul and psych-rock, while the ’80s make an appearance with several artists – Memory Tapes, Autre Ne Veut, and Ceremony – producing excellent interpretations of nostalgic new wave and alternative. As they are inspired by the likes of The Cure and New Order, several other artists featured take influences from a period arriving later in the ’80s and early ’90s. The Fantasies and Anna Bradley show DIY alt-rock smarts that bring to mind Pavement and Sebadoh, a sound that Cymbals Eat Guitars also showed on their excellent debut a few years back. Their new epic, “Rifle Eyesight”, shows just as much promise. Throw in a few highly accessible pop/rock efforts – courtesy of Emma-Louise, Jethro Fox, and Burning Hearts – and you have a solid roster of artists this past month. Enjoy!

01. The Stepkids – Shadows on Behalf (post)
02. Washed Out – You and I (post)
03. Emma-Louise – Jungle (post)
04. Jethro Fox – Blinding Light (post)
05. Memory Tapes – Wait in the Dark (post)
06. The Haret – Take A Drink On Me (post)
07. Autre Ne Veut – Sweetheart (post)
08. The Fantasies – Stuck In My World (post)
09. The Rozzes – Leave Without Me (post)
10. Anna Bradley – Perfume (post)
11. Mister Heavenly – Bronx Sniper (post)
12. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Rifle Eyesight (Proper Name) (post)
13. The Carpels – Sand (post)
14. Burning Hearts – Into the Wilderness (post)
15. Ceremony – Not Tonight (post)
16. The Vliets – Beneath the Paisley Sky (post)
17. Real Estate – It’s Real (post)
18. Giles Corey – Empty Churches (post)

DOWNLOAD ENTIRE COMPILATION>>> (126.7 MB, .RAR)

The post Obscure Sound: Best of July 2011 appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

The stripped-down sound of Warm Speakers provides an excellent example of modern-day bedroom pop. Long Island native Patrick Berlinquette follows in the footsteps of names like Washed Out, Neon Indian, and Toro y Moi in crafting a sound full of nostalgia, with ‘80s electro-pop meshing with several electronic fusions from the ‘90s onward. For Warm Speakers specifically, Berlinquette touches on the trip-hop/dance infusion perfected by Massive Attack and Portishead. This is especially the case on more subdued efforts, like the hypnotically aquatic and slightly Hail to the Thief-inspired “Where the Comma Lands”. A pulsing drum beat is led by a mellow bass as he interweaves several whispery vocal lines, not too far from the dubstep of Thom York/Flying Lotus collaborations. The percussion is not nearly as involved, but the strong vibrating lead is there. It’s not a surefire single like the effervescent “The World Around You”, but “Where the Comma Lands” is arguably the finest example of Berlinquette’s burgeoning production skills.

Berlinquette’s potential is on full display for Mezcal Noon, his debut 5-song EP. In addition to the beautifully ambitious scope of “Where the Comma Lands”, he offers  a few slightly more accessible efforts that cater to recent trends in electronica. The angelic vocal harmonies and suavely incorporated arpeggio-led hooks of efforts like “The World Around You” and “Waves” fit within the “chillwave” scope of Berlinquette’s most recent influences. The appropriately titled “Waves” mixes Berlinquette’s vocals as if he were entrenched in an underwater cave, a wonderful contrast to the gleeful whistling and booming brass-synth that fills the nook’s surroundings. “Verda” is on the more experimental side purely due to Berlinquette’s vocal dominance. He takes on a colorful electro-pop croon reminiscent of Erasure’s Andy Bell for the track’s majority; it would sound linear if not accompanied by chilling backing vocal accompaniments, a vital accomplishments for many surging artists from How to Dress Well to Wild Beasts. Berlinquette’s smooth vocals are one thing. But it’s his ability to interweave layers of them with such cohesion and beauty into his mesmerizing compositions that make Warm Speakers so memorable.

You can purchase Warm Speakers’ EP, Mezcal Noon, on GroopEase for ONLY $2 over the next 24 hours… I’d get on that. You can also preview the album below:

RIYL: Washed Out, Toro y Moi, Neon Indian, Memory Tapes, Massive Attack, Portishead, Thom Yorke, Radiohead, Flying Lotus, How to Dress Well, Wild Beasts, Erasure,

Warm Speakers – Where the Comma Lands

Warm Speakers – The World Around You

MEZCAL NOON EP by Warm Speakers

Bandcamp / Facebook / BUY (ONLY $2!)

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Ceremony – Not Tonight

Ceremony – Leaves Me Cold

Ceremony – Dreams Stripped Away

Drenched in heavy doses of reverb, Ceremony’s sound is inspired by both shoegaze and post-punk . Providing the trademark nonchalance of such genres, alternating vocalists Paul Baker and John Fedowitz sing like they’re trying to speak without moving their lips. The indifferent murmuring is aptly enjoyable, as the backing instruments – mainly a meshing of different guitar layers and rapid percussion – sound like they’re slogging through marshmallow fluff as well. One of the Virginia-based group’s remarkable trademarks is a blending of low-range rhythm guitars and dexterous high-pitched leads that can resemble anything from a ‘80s hair-metal to a SNES soundtrack (Mega Man?). Look past the two-minute mark in the stellar ”Leaves Me Cold” for such virtuosity, as even through the midst of reverb and hypnotizing guitar patterns is a clearly visible plethora of hooks and fascinating multi-layered dynamics.

The next track, “Dreams Stripped Away”, pushes the vocals back even further in the mix, resulting in a gauzily beautiful sound reminiscent of My Bloody Valenine. While their name is an outward tribute to Joy Division, it’s clear their influences extend beyond them. While they do replicate aspects of punchy post-punk on certain occasions, like the robotic-like percussion on “Not Tonight”, the shoegaze elements are never lost. In addition to the shuddering waves of guitars reminiscent of shoegaze, even comparisons to other post-punkers like Echo & the Bunnymen, Jesus and Mary Chain, Orange Juice aren’t far off because of Ceremony’s multi-faceted stylistic ability. They may not yet possess a feeling as intimate as their influences, as their menacing sound can be unsettling and sporadic for some, but Ceremony showcase an impressive grasp of what made some ‘80s alternative sound so ominously dark, thickly ambitious, and unforgettable. That alone is enough to earn them a cult following. MySpace / Facebook

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Burning Hearts – Into the Wilderness

Burning Hearts – Various Lives

Burning Hearts by Burning Hearts

Burning Hearts bring to mind a lighter interpretation of ‘80s alternative, more aligned with the dream-pop and pop-rock of artists like Fleetwood Mac, Cocteau Twins, and – later on – Mazzy Star. Many recent groups have pursued such influences, some of the most popular from the surge being Beach House, Twin Sister, and Memoryhouse. All of them have combined their adoration with contemporary indie-pop smarts, though different methods involving anything from heavy organ infusions to nostalgic sampling. Burning Hearts are from Finland, so you can expect the typical Scandinavian pop smarts – like ethereal child-like vocals, sweeping harmonies, and brilliant key progressions – on their four-song release Into the Wilderness. “Fever” showcases such keyboard-laden talents with a somber piano lead, which at the 1.5-minute mark unveils some dazzling progressions for the track’s duration. It’s a pleasant if somewhat straightforward effort, and a good accompaniment to lead single “Into the Wilderness”.

“Into the Wilderness” replaces the piano with synths and introduces a gentle acoustic guitar, which provides a serene bridge before a rhythmic electric-guitar shuffle. “This is our world, a sacred place to be,” she sings, sounding like a half-hippie, half-dancefloor maven. The sonorous synth pad and funky bass line help enforce the latter, while the tranquil “ooh”ing  sung over an acoustic guitar helps the former. It’s a lovable mix, for sure. MySpace / Facebook / BUY

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Memory Tapes – Wait in the Dark

Memory Tapes – Yes I Know

Memory Tapes – Today Is Our Life

I’m a bit late on Memory Tapes and the new release, Player Piano, but it’s certainly worth a mention – especially alongside other excellent ‘80s imitations like these. It’s a project fronted by Dayve Hawk, whose former project Hail Social I featured four years ago. The lovably infectious disco-pop of that project was enjoyable enough, but Memory Tapes proves to be more intimate. It becomes a better indication of Hawk’s direction as a songwriter beyond glitzy hooks and recycled genre fetishism. That’s not to say there aren’t certain tributes – the twangy guitar and bouncy bass line in “Offers” resembles The Cure to an eerie extent, especially combined with the fact that Hawk assumes Robert Smith’s whiny croon as well.

There are plenty of great moments both on the minimalist and high-end spectrum, the former’s shining moment being the bare-bones love song “Yes I Know”. Hawk wrote it as an imitation of heartbreaking love songs in the ‘80s that relied on passion over virtuosity or technical prowess. The best moment may be in the album’s first minutes, when the twinkling frailty of “musicbox(in)” transitions to wonderfully contagious “Wait in the Dark”, which combines modern nasally electro-rock (or Ozma punk) with an R.E.M. jangle. Or perhaps better yet, see how the brilliant “Worries” recalls Erasure in its dance-pop chorus before transitioning to a psychedelic outro reminiscent of a stymied Pink Floyd/Bach hybrid. The album is full of fun moments like these, and seems to be flying a bit under the radar considering its fascinating sound and variety of hooks. Blog / MySpace / BUY

The post Odes to the ’80s appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

December’s features were cut short by the ‘Best Albums‘ feature, so I decided to cram two months into one for this compilation. I think it makes this one twice as good as the average one on here, headlined by the first big successes of 2011. Destroyer, Smith Westerns, British Sea Power, and Cut Copy are the first big names to release an album in 2011, all doing so with critical acclaim. Three of the four are featured in this month’s compilation with some of the highlights from those releases. Add to that some new efforts by other familiar faces like Memory Tapes, Akron/Family, and Times New Viking and there is little to complain about thus far. If 2011 continues in a positive direction like this, we could all be in for a great year.

Even aside from the popular names, other names like Woodsman, Grass Widow, and Tennis are generating buzz as well. There is yet to be a breakout new star in 2011, but a couple of these artists produced exceptional debuts and sophomore releases that should provide them with some well-deserved recognition. I’m just hoping that February comes and goes quickly… in my opinion, it’s easily the worst month of the year. The weather absolutely sucks, the only sport on TV is basketball, and illnesses are flying around with malicious intent. I was unlucky enough to catch one early last week and am still battling it. The last time I was sick before this? Last February. There’s just something about the month that makes my body weak. Good thing music is not affected by the miserable qualities of a given month. It’s one of the only things that acts as an enjoyable compass in times like these.

01. Destroyer – Chinatown (post)
02. Smith Westerns – All Die Young (post)
03. British Sea Power – Mongk II (post)
04. Akron/Family – So It Goes (post)
05. Bullion – I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times (Beach Boys) (post)
06. Memory Tapes – Today Is Our Life (post)
07. Times New Viking – No Room to Live (post)
08. Woodsman – I Can’t Move (post)
09. Soft Landing – Pendleton Woolen (post)
10. Young Prisms – I Don’t Get Much (post)
11. Grass Widow – Fried Egg (post)
12. The Mountain Goats – Damn These Vampires (post)
13. Tennis – Pigeon (post)
14. Young Galaxy – We Have Everything (post)

DOWNLOAD ENTIRE COMPILATION>>> (91.2 MB, .RAR)

The post Obscure Sound: Best of Dec./Jan. ’11 appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

Top News Story:

There’s a whole lotta tourin’ going on.  Terrible pun aside, a slew of bands announced tours this week.  Sleigh Bells, Neon Indian and CSS will be starting their tour at the Coachella Music Festival, Lil Wayne announced his “I Am Music II” tour with co-headliner Nicki Minaj, and supporting cast Rick Ross, Mix Master Mike, and Travis Barker.  Black Lips and Vivian Girls announced their tour across the east coast and most of the Midwest.  Wavves and Best Coast are hitting the road together, while The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are touring with newcomer Twin Shadow.  The spring is looking to be quite a busy season.

On a side, and extremely sad, note, the Coachella Music and Arts Festival is sold out.  Tickets were only available for 4 days before selling out, and they’re now being sold on eBay, Craigslist and ticket bartering sites for as much as $1,500.

However, All Tomorrow’s Parties new festival in Asbury Park (starting 9/30) still has some tickets left, even though Jeff Mangum’s private Monday show is sold out. Curated by Portishead, they will play alongside Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Shellac, Chavez, and many more to be announced. 3-day passes run for $269.

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New Tracks:

Young Galaxy – We Have Everything

* Young Galaxy had the misfortune of being lumped into the chillwave obsession of 2010, but their brand of chilled-out electronic swirls have Studio’s Dan Lissvik producing their upcoming album, Shapeshifting.  “We Have Everything” is an absolute pleasure to hear. The bleeding vocals compliment the lighthearted melody without overpowering the overall mood.

Memory Tapes – Today Is Our Life

* Memory Tapes’ 2009 LP was fantastic. “Today Is Out Life” comes from the new Love SIC Disco compilation.  The track showcases a more focused style from Memory Tapes than was seen in ’09, but still retains Dayve Hawk’s signature hazy flutterings.  Hawk also stated that the song would be included on the Memory Tapes sophomore release.

Times New Viking – No Room to Live

* The first single from their new album, Dance Equired, which is out on Times New Viking’s brand new label, Merge.  This single is telling of TNV’s move toward more traditional recording methods whilst attempting to keep an air of analog goodness.  The obvious shift in style between Rip It Off and Born Again Revisited is even more evident in “No Room to Live.”

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Best New Album of the Week:

Destroyer – Kaputt

Destroyer – Chinatown

Destroyer – Suicide Demo for Kara Walker

Destroyer – Blue Eyes

Dan Bejar decided on the name ‘Destroyer’ for his side project because he was so surprised no other band had ever taken the name.  And while the name has a negative connotation, Bejar’s experiments in the world of singer/songwriters has produced some of the best albums of the last decade.  Destroyer albums range from the minimal and acoustic to the sonic and electronic. With Kaputt, Destroyer delves even deeper into Bejar’s experimental personality.  One of the biggest examples is the first track, “Chinatown”, which employs a late-80s synth/drum/sax combination that, when coupled with Bejar’s haunting vocals, produces a track that sounds out of place at first, but then eases into itself and eventually sounds no more awkward than most of Trouble in Dreams. With Kaputt, Bejar keeps to an overall thematic use of synthesizers and 80s style arrangements; long, luscious and overdone.  And while today’s music tends to veer away from this perceived fault, Bejar uses it with such confidence that he has you believing Olivia Newton John will start playing next.

Read Mike’s review of the album here.

BUY

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Song of the Week:

The Strokes – 12:51

by Jay Mattson

Room on Fire was released when I was a senior at Grimsely Senior High School.  This was a time before I wanted to hear anything beyond what the radio played.  But I bought the sophomore album from the Strokes, mostly because the scene girls in my art class talked about how good Is This It? had been.  Obviously fawning for their attention by letting the album sit halfway out of my book bag so they could see I had it didn’t work to curry their favor.  Instead, it became one of my favorite albums. Specifically, “12:51” was one of the best songs I had ever heard.  It was short, to the point; “rock ‘n’ roll”, but not bawdy; it had the garage aesthetic without sounding overly grimy.  Some of the reasons I love the Strokes are the same reasons other people dislike them.  “12:51” became a sort-of mood lifter for me.  Whenever I was having a bad day, I’d pop Room on Fire into my car stereo.  To this day, “12:51” makes me smile, not only because the track is one of the Strokes’ best work, but also because it reminds me of the days when I first became enamored with Casablancas and Company.

BUY

The post Week in Review (1/29) appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

With more emphasis on guitars and real drums, Woodsman continue the trend of electronic-induced psychedelia prevalent in major acts today. From Animal Collective’s tribal-like fervency to the lush “chillwave” tag associated with acts like Washed Out and Neon Indian, the most recent crop of the stylistic movement has been surprisingly accessible considering its psychedelic roots. Artists within it now sit alongside contemporary college-radio favorites like The Shins and Beach House with ease as listeners oblivious to the “chillwave” tag either find trendy nostalgic value in it or dismiss it as lo-fi rubbish, often without a clue as to what lo-fi actually is. One could argue to mesh lo-fi and electronic genres for recent artists like Washed Out, who defy lo-fi conventions by replacing tinny strats and minimal percussion with sonorous synths and booming drum loops. But even when the automated percussion is minimized, the flexibility of synth VSTs and samplers dilutes the essence of lo-fi, which is to produce quality songwriting with the bare minimum of resources. The polarizing effect on listeners of early Pavement, Modest Mouse, and later on Ariel Pink had much to do with the defiance of rock/pop expectations; radio listeners were so accustomed to artists cloaking their weaknesses through superfluously glistening production – especially by the late ‘80s and early ’90s – that many perennial lo-fi rock acts were initially questioned, regardless of how highly their songwriting is valued now.

Today, many people perceive lo-fi as anything that sounds gauzy or muddled. The thing is though, shitty production does not equate to lo-fi. The genre should be provided more as a complement than a tag for anyone with cheap recording methods and subpar songs. Woodsman seem well aware of the fact that songwriting helps define lo-fi and NOT vice versa. The Brooklyn/Colorado quartet’s full-length debut Rare Forms capitalizes on both conventions of lo-fi rock and expansive psychedelic efforts without cloaking or manipulating anything. The result is an album that does not confine itself to one approach, but rather a bevy of them completely reliant on the song’s tone and mood. There are plenty of lush, atmospheric psychedelic efforts on the album, but there are also those with heavy noise and drone influences that are potentially ear-piercing. Although repetition does get in the way of quality occasionally, Rare Forms turns out to be a fascinating listen that all artists bent out of shape on this lo-fi tag should listen to. For Woodsman, they set a nice example for weak artists attempting to write music for the lo-fi ideology, out of novelty instead of necessity.

“Dead Awake” explores the experimental path more, alternating between hazy acid-jazz and climactic percussion. When the latter fades momentarily, it resembles a room filled with the voices of distressed spirits; the chilling effect is even more gratifying once the percussion commences again and puts forth a tactfully ambitious turn, where the conventional beat turns into improv-like pit-pats. “Spectral Creatures” also sports some interesting percussion. It sounds like a mad fusion of hi-hats initially, with a constant buzzing drone in the background providing one of few melodic moments. It was obviously written as a lead-in to “I Can’t Move”, a refreshingly suave approach where glimpses of Afro-pop keys and delicate guitar strums combine for a lushly atmospheric effort. Animal Collective comparisons are abundant here, both in the Avey Tare-like vocal delivery and progression of wavy sounds. The chiming bells in the last minute represent the most delightful moment though, with smooth guitar licks gently caressing the bouncy keys with appropriate fervor.

“Future Pulls” takes the most advantage of Woodsman’s natural knack for subtleties. A twangy guitar tremolo is on double loop over vocal sound effects and clicky percussion, both of which evolve minimally to help enhance the sitar-like trance effect of the guitar tremolo. Both this and the following track, “Unnamed”, are successes for the most part, but some more variation would have helped. “Unnamed” takes a route that should be familiar to fans of The Flaming Lips’ newest album, Embryonic. Think of a more subdued, less abrasive version of “Aquarius Sabotage”. “Unnamed” is part psychedelia, noise, and post-punk as well. This percussion-heavy track works around a constant backing drone and warbled yelp of sorts. The experiment here is relatively successful, but it would be nice to see the band flesh out songs like this a tad more. There should be more body and less drone; the impressive use of percussion fortunately keeps the track upright.

After a slew of shorter releases that contained a bunch of hits and misses, Rare Forms is not the huge jump forward some fans were hoping for. Still, it is Woodsman’s most consistent and impressive release to date barring a few mundane efforts. The emphasis on repetition can become grating with a handful of thin concepts, though some tracks succeed greatly. In “Beat the Heat” there is a moment where a fluttering harmonica arpeggio enhances the overall mood of the track without sacrificing the initial presentation. In the process, it contributes an infectious quality that paces cohesively with the tones of psychedelia already present. I hope that Woodsman plant similar devices to this one on their next release, which judging from their prolific nature should not be too far off in the future.

RIYL: The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Young Prisms, Kraftwerk, Mercury Rev, KeepAway, Small Black, Pill Wonder, Animal Collective, Neon Indian, Memory Tapes, Modest Mouse

Woodsman – I Can’t Move

Woodsman – Beat the Heat

Woodsman – Insects

Tumblr / MySpace / BUY

The post Beware the Woodsman appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

In crafting what is deemed personally nostalgic, Dan Lopatin and Joel Ford share a fondness with many others in their late 20s or early 30s. Young enough to remember the ’80s peaks, yet too old to concern themselves with the decade’s abundance of conformity, their songwriting recalls the more innovative attempts at stylistic fusion during the decade. Re-workings of vintage ’80s sounds tend to be more respected than modifications of psychedelic pop, funk, blues, or other genres that are certainly nostalgic in their own ways, yet do not possess the flexibility to be incorporated into the popular music of today. The relatively recent infusion of sampling into music has been very friendly to two genres particularly: ’70s soul and ’80s pop. The soul music, often of the famed Philly variety, has a boatload of strings and soaring vocals, both smooth and continuous enough for seamless sampling. The ’80s are known prominently for the emergence of electronic components like MIDI and synthesizers, but the decade’s frequent re-appearance is also fueled by the fact that the “creative” tag was handed to old genres in new (electronic) clothing all throughout the decade. With their project Games, Lopatin and Ford ride with the fuel of artists that succeeded in such a manner, all while their own project reaps in its own originality.

Games’ music is constantly in motion, whether applied to the sampled vocals or trembling twinkle of keys, and the pulsations of bass clash appropriately with echoing keyboards to create the ethereal quality of Games’ sound. They are able to blend samples of various pitch and delivery with instrumentation that is gushing with serenely intoxicating products of a sound influenced by funk, soul, and most electronic-aided genres with the word “fusion” in them. The comparisons to sample-based masterminds like Air France and Avalanches are easily made with a sound that steps beyond the restrained realm of “chillwave”, where soothing production tendencies are often a priority over song development. This is not to say that Games’ songwriting is more refined than the atmospheres they present though, because that would not be true. The duo sometimes want to impress audiences with a gorgeously placed sample or tempo-laden stutter, neglecting a talent of hook manufacturing that peeks its head in “Everything is Working” but does not truly emerge until “Heartlands”, a riskier track that shows Games’ adventurous tendencies in the best possible light.

“Everything Is Working” is one of those alarming efforts that makes a linear, repeating sample entertaining for several minutes. The duo throw different twinkles of keys, bells, and woodwinds at the overlapping vocal samples, multiply layered to give the song some definitive structure outside of the casual percussion and padded synths. The downbeat tremolo of keys during the song’s second half provides some much-needed tonal diversity, but it still is pretty extraordinarily how enjoyable the final result is with this in mind. It would have been so easy to turn a track like this into some ambient music for a pretentious art film, but instead Games turn it into a scenic achievement of thematic summer very much in the vein of Air France’s “June Evenings”. Sit back and relax… this song does all the work for you.

The excellent b-side on the 7″ of Everything Is Working, “Heartlands”, is probably a more impressive artistic achievements due to its capricious nature. The swanky tube synths immediately recall a trashy ’80s funk vibe, which comes across perfectly under a vocal sample as flamboyant and stereotypical as this falsetto-lined one. Here, Lopatin and Ford construct elements of noise to serve as pretty explosive hooks, like around 50 seconds in when a wolf howl of sorts signals percussive changes and a messy stab at organs. Despite how cluttered this had the potential to sound, the organization on “Heartlands” is impeccable and is one of the primary reasons I think Games is going to be a huge project. Not just that the song has organized variation, but also that the duo clearly are treating their influences the right way. Of course they will always have a handful of songs where the atmosphere transcends middling songwriting, but these two efforts show that Games are among the elite of sample-friendly electronic-pop groups.

RIYL: Air France, Avalanches, Panda Bear, Washed Out, Neon Indian, Toro y Moi, Nite Jewel, Memory Tapes, Beach Fossils, Best Coast, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Real Estate

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Games – Heartlands

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Games – Everything Is Working

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Official Tumblr

The Curatorial Club

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The post Dan and Joel’s Games appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

Eric Littman is a complete unknown at this point. Little more than a paragraph of information is available online about his project, Phantom Power, and I actually do not know how it got in my hands in the first place. It could have put on my hard drive yesterday or last year… I’m not really sure. In fact, I listened to it based on the fact I had no clue what it was. Expectations were relatively low since a quick Google search turned up nothing on the artist or tagged album (Phosphophobia), but this is one of those fresh discoveries that should find its place on several blogs after this feature. While there is not even an official online source for Phantom Power (or even anywhere to buy their material), perhaps this impending exposure should inspire Littman to make his material have a more accessible online presence. The tracks on Phosphophobia are pretty damn stellar, so I will gladly try to help him out. After all, this chillwave movement is gaining an ample amount of exposure but there are not enough quality artists to support the initiative. A project like Phantom Power suggests there are many inspiring efforts on the horizon though, specifically from young musicians specializing in a lo-fi craft. I mean, the name alone (Phantom Power) probably derives from the power method used most commonly for bedroom recording.

Phosphophobia is little more than a bedroom recording, but the ideas Littman has are revealed with impressive precision in regard to his style’s structural appeal. He laces on plenty of reverb like Washed Out, Neon Indian, or Memory Tapes, but unlike them his songs are led by guitars as opposed to synthesizers. Phantom Power’s production, with its drowned-out vocals and cheap shots of percussion, is very likable in the backdrop of these songs. Littman has prevalent melodic ability, and his ability to weave in multiple layers of guitars with intricate grace should not be underestimated. A track like “Nutcracker Punch” recalls the droopy guitars of late ’80s post-punk, showing shades of both The Chameleons’ ominous and anticipatory croon and The Smiths’ glistening array of guitar arpeggios. Standout “Chaz Doesn’t Write on the Beach” recalls this period even more with its bass line, as its deep presence over a variety of rhythmically-aided guitar progressions provides a serene feeling of nostalgia mostly associated with post-punk’s later days. At least for me, the role of instrumentation and general production throughout Phosphophobia is an immediate throwback to both the college-rock and post-punk of the late ’80s.

Littman himself does not have a particularly empowering voice, but like Caribou’s Dan Snaith I would not be surprised if he transforms his so-called imperfections into a product of stylistic singularity. He is already showing that sort of potential on “Since When Were You a Nihilist?”, one of Phosphophobia‘s more lighthearted efforts. His deep vocals recall Interpol’s Paul Banks or Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt, both artists unsurprisingly fond of flaunting past influences. This track contains a crisper and more playful melody compared to the rest, so it is a nice breather placed in the middle of the release. “Tunnel Vision” only contains a slight hint of Littman’s vocals, but like the fade-out approach employed on Interpol’s “The New” his vocal presence becomes obliterated by bursts of guitar that are exceptionally vital to the track’s atmospheric and melodic success. This fade-in of guitars and gradual fade-out of vocals is a common technique for post-punk revivalists like Interpol. Littman showing a great grasp of neat little genre-based staples like these despite his young age is impressive. He is simply a college student working on writing songs, but his stylistic vision is remarkably strong considering the movement he so effectively mimics was largely gone by his birth date. No worries though; we now have skilled artists like Littman to remind us to remember what is worth remembering.

RIYL: Washed Out, Neon Indian, The Chameleons UK, The Smiths, Caribou, Interpol, Memory Tapes, Magnetic Fields, Real Estate, Girls, Memoryhouse, Animal Collective

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Phantom Power – Tunnel Vision

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Phantom Power – Chaz Doesn’t Write on the Beach

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Phantom Power – High on the Highline

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Phantom Power – Nutcracker Punch

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Phantom Power – Drinking in the Park

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Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round (Phantom Power remix)

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The post Phantom Power appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.