Autumn nears and so do my qualms about winter. Needless to say, it always seems like the best music and film arrives during the last one-third of the year. Award considerations aside, one gets the hunch artists want to end the year on a positive note rather than one of nothingness. A looming uncertainty can sometimes be the best source of inspiration. Combine this artistic spur with crisp days, pumpkin ales, and some football and you have some of my favorite moments. This month’s compilation offers a preview of that. New releases from Girls, Beirut, and CANT are some of the most buzzed-about kickstarts to the season, but don’t forget about emerging ones like The Wind, Pepper Rabbit, and J. Nolan as well. Not to mention, a familiar face in Bill Callahan released Apocalypse months ago, but we tossed a review up because – well – it just feels like an album for autumn.

The newcomer I’m most excited about is NewVillager, who released a very fun album the past month. Like TV on the Radio meets Man Man, the duo projects a perfect mixture of experimental pop and soulful rock. They should be big fairly quickly, especially with chaotically brilliant efforts like “Say the Code”.  In the hip-hop realm, J. Nolan touts the best delivery I’ve heard in awhile. The young and tireless rapper releases something new every month, each time time with improvement (even if it’s hard to top the lush electro-rap of “Cosmic Cruise”). Some garage-rock and blues can be found with the likes of You Won’t, The Stone Foxes, and Chappo, while artists of the more lengthily ambitious variety include old favorite Cymbals Eat Guitars and CANT, the solo project of Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor with appearances by Twin Shadow. Their album Dreams Come True sounds like a fall release if I’ve ever heard one. Some of these efforts, like the effervescent classic-rock sound of The Wind and The Drums, are not precisely aligned with the fall variety, but showcase the spurt of quality that is to be expected over the next several months.

Get back to the grind and enjoy the falling leaves with these wonderful efforts:

01. NewVillager – Say the Code (post)
02. Girls – Vomit (post)
03. The Wind – Sunshine and Peace of Mind (post)
04. Beirut – The Rip Tide (post)
05. Pepper Rabbit – Tiny Fingers (post)
06. J. Nolan – Cosmic Cruise (prod. One Love Beats) (post)
07. Woods – Out of the Eye (post)
08. The Drums – Let’s Go Surfing (post)
09. Warm Speakers – Where the Comma Lands (post)
10. Oh Ruin – The Pillow Where Your Head Does Lay (post)
11. CANT – The Edge (post)
12. Bill Callahan – Riding for the Feeling (post)
13. Chappo – Bodies Coasting (post)
14. You Won’t – Three Car Garage (post)
15. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Definite Darkness (post)
16. The Stone Foxes – Psycho (post)

DOWNLOAD ENTIRE COMPILATION>>> (106 MB, .RAR)

The post Obscure Sound: Best of August 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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