The Foreign Resort, newly signed to Chicago-based BLVD Records, have released a new single and video. The Danish outfit’s single, titled “Alone”, is a brilliantly catchy and addictively hooky new wave track. The video was shot in L.A. by Arian Soheili. The Foreign Resort’s upcoming album “New Frontiers” will be released digitally on February 24th, with a physical release soon to follow.
Category: Uncategorized
Four More Bands Confirmed for Volume 4
I recently announced the first three bands for March’s Muso Planet volume 4. The count is now up to seven, as I am happy to announce the addition of four fantastic artists: SHE (England), orangenoise (Pakistan), Sea Dweller (Italy), and Le Thug (Scotland). With the band list now at seven, the final participant should hopefully be announced in the coming weeks. In the meantime, get ready for the release of Muso Planet volume 3, coming this Saturday!
A Psych Tribute to the Doors
Some truly amazing bands have come together for an upcoming release of “A Pysch Tribute to the Doors”. The concept clearly needs no introduction, but take a look at this stacked lineup. The album will be available on March 4th and pre-order is now available on iTunes.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/a-psych-tribute-to-the-doors/id811281839
1. Elephant Stone – “L.A. Woman”
2. The Black Angels – “Soul Kitchen”
3. Psychic Ills – “Love Me Two Times”
4. Dark Horses – “Hello, I Love You”
5. Camera – “People are Strange”
6. Dead Meadow – “The Crystal Ship”
7. Sons of Hippies – “The Soft Parade”
8. Dead Skeletons – “Riders on the Storm”
9. Wall of Death – “Light My Fire”
10. Clinic – “Touch Me”
11. Vietnam – “Roundhouse Blues”
12. Geri X – “Love Her Madly”
13. The Raveonettes – “The End”
3 Bands Signed on for Muso Planet Volume 4
With Muso Planet volume 3 wrapping up and on the way in the next few weeks, plans have already begun for volume 4. Three bands have been confirmed so far, with more expected to follow in the coming weeks. I am very excited to announce that SXSW 2014 participants Adelaida (Chile) will be joined by TuT (Taiwan) and The Chambermaids (U.S.). Stay tuned for more announcements on volume 4 as well as the upcoming release of volume 3.
Skip Skip Ben Ben Japan Tour 2014
Skip Skip Ben Ben has just announced a Japan tour for the spring. This is great news, but I’m a little sad the band won’t be making it to Nagoya. Here are the dates:
3/6 (Thur) 青山 月見ル君想フ
東京都港区南青山4-9-1シンプル青山ビルB1F
http://www.moonromantic.com/
3/7 (Fri )高円寺 円盤(ben ben、井上solo)
東京都杉並区高円寺南3-59-11
http://enban.web.fc2.com/
3/10 (Mon) 大阪HARDRAIN
大阪府大阪市北区兎我野町３−１９ 兎我野ビル B1F
http://hardrain-web.net/
3/11(Tue) 京都nano
京都市中京区押小路通西洞院東入ル二条西洞院町632-3
http://livehouse-nano.com/
3/12 (Wed)大阪FANDANGO
大阪市淀川区十三本町１丁目１７−２７
http://fandango-go.com/
3/14 (Fri)福岡public space四次元
福岡市中央区天神4-4-30新郷ビル2F
http://www.yojigen.asia/
3/15 (Sat) 鹿児島SR HALL
鹿児島県鹿児島市東千石町3-41 キャパルボ 7F
http://www.kagoshima-sr.jp/access-info/
Top 20 Tracks of 2013
I’d been wrestling with the idea of putting together a “top albums of 2013” list for a while. Then I realized that many of my favorite releases were EPs, so it became a struggle as to whether or not I should create two separate lists. I’ve instead opted to go with a “Top 20 Tracks of 2013” list. This list is in no particular order and I know there are a lot of good songs from a lot of killer albums from the previous year that haven’t been put on the list. Naturally a lot of these songs or artists have appeared on a Muso Planet compilation (or will in the future).
★Baby Formula (China) – “Lonely Gourmet”. Really dreamy and highly addictive track from the Beijing dreampoppers. The vocals will melt your soul.
★Oeil (Japan) – “Owl Moon”. Oeil released two new tracks this year and, while it was close, “Owl Moon” was just too good. The song is available for download exclusively from Muso Planet volume 2.
★Elephant Stone (Canada) – “A Silent Moment”. The track off their album that best showcases the band’s hindie-rock tag. Really well composed song from an all-around great album.
★Venera 4 (France) – “Haunted Summer”. An epic 9-minute conclusion to one of the best EPs of the year. The acoustic version the band released just before the end of the year is solid, too.
★Beach Volleyball (England) – “Contack”. The best track off of an album from a contender for “band of the year”. I love the depth in this song.
★The Chambermaids (U.S.) – “I Wonder Why”. Probably my favorite album of 2013, and this track is as catchy as they come.
★The Cherry Wave (Scotland) – “Cave/Wave”. These guys pride themselves on the amount of fuzz they generate and they should. This track is loud and one of the reasons that they are high on my list of bands to see live.
★Kinoko Teikoku (Japan) – “Eureka”. My Japanese band of the year and probably my favorite Japanese band over the last two-plus years. You can seriously get lost in this song, which is the title track of their 2013 full-length.
★Puna (Peru) – “Au Dial”. Instrumental electronic track from the highly-underrated Peru-based music project. Beautifully layered song.
★Loomer (Brazil) – “Road to Japan”. I love the vocals on this track. My favorite from the debut album by the Brazilian shoegaze outfit.
★Cool Serbia (U.S.) – “Tear Me Up”. I like the noisy 60s pop throwback sound. “Tear Me Up” is one of the songs off of the EP that I can listen to over and over again.
★Disco las Palmeras (Spain) – “Alfa y Omega (la cruel)”. Ultra was one of 2013’s best albums from start to finish. Alfa y Omega is powerful and that chorus is addictive.
★PanSTARRS (Egypt) – “Fools”. It’s danceable and nasty. There’s something evil about this track from the always noisy Egyptian trio.
★Curelight Wounds (U.S.) – “Leveled Out”. Curelight Wounds put out two DIY EPs in 2013, both of which were brilliant. “Leveled Out” isn’t as refined production-wise as some of the tracks from the latter EP, which might be why it’s my favorite. It’s upbeat and loud and the vocals are smashed deep in the mix.
★His Name is Codeine (Scotland) – “Replica Gun”. Mellow track with a Velvet Underground feel. Very simple and straightforward song that develops subtly over three minutes.
★Wavr (U.S.) – “Melt my Brain”. The vocals on this song are magnificent. The music is big and dreamy and, though it doesn’t change a whole lot, it never gets boring due to the big enveloping sound.
★Wolvon (Holland) – “Stagnant”. A very busy, moody track from the Dutch post-punk band’s album folds. One of the more complicated and interesting songs on the CD.
★Trementina (Chile) – “Hazy Youth”. It was a big year for Trementina who released Brilliant Noise on Japan’s Vinyl Junkies. “Hazy Youth” was the first track made available from the album.
★Zeit (Sweden) – “Sky”. The poppiest track off of the Life is Just a Blur EP, the intro-hook is super catchy, as is the chorus.
★Le Thug (Scotland) – “Of Europe (Arc 1993)”. The song is beautiful. That’s really all that can be said. I love the beat under the big swirling guitars and the vocals are…well…beautiful.
Muso Planet’s Newest Contributor: Jairo Manzur
Muso Planet aims to be a truly global music magazine, and to date I have tried to reach out to every corner of the world to get info on a lot of great artists. There are some difficulties, however, not the least of which is the size of the planet and the amount of talent that exists. Another such issue is the language barrier that can exist when trying to contact or simply gather information on artists. I am fortunate to be a native speaker of a language that is widely compulsory in education systems, though it can’t always be relied upon. It is because of these reasons and more that I am happy to announce that Jairo Manzur of Latinoamerica Shoegaze (whose interview can be read in Muso Planet volume 2) is signing on as a regular contributor to Muso Planet.
Jairo’s Latinoamerica Shoegaze blog is an outstanding resource on music in the region, and his wealth of knowledge will be an asset to Muso Planet. Being a native Spanish speaker, Jairo has already helped a ton with contacting artists and relaying important bits of information that is far beyond the capabilities of whatever remains of my middle to high school Spanish education. There is a lot of quality music being made in Latin America and I look forward to reading Jairo’s input on his field of expertise in future issues of Muso Planet.
Jairo’s first contribution will be a preview of some exciting releases coming out of Latin America in the upcoming months and will be included in Muso Planet volume 3.
Muso Planet Volume 3 Content/第３号の内容
The release date of Muso Planet volume 3 will be announced within the next few days. In the meantime here is a list of the content for the issue/Muso Planet第３号の発行日をもうすぐ発表する。
★The Blog That Celebrates Itself – An Interview with Renato Malizia/Renato Maliziaとのインタビュー
★A Look at Upcoming Releases from Latin America/ラテンアメリカのバンドより来たるべきリリース
Bands:
Trementina (Chile/チリ), Curelight Wounds (U.S./アメリカ),skip skip ben ben (China/中国), His Name Is Codeine(Scotland/スコットランド), Disco las palmeras! (Spain/スペイン), Fashion (Japan/日本), Charlatan (U.S./アメリカ), FPRF(Russia/ロシア)
Venera 4 Releases Free Acoustic Album “Winter Sessions”
French shoegaze 4-piece and Muso Planet volume 1 artist Venera 4 has just released a free on its Bandcamp page. The album consists of acoustic versions of the band’s music. It’s an absolutely beautiful Christmas gift for fans of one of the planet’s most impressive groups. Download it here:
http://venera4band.bandcamp.com/album/winter-sessions
TBTCI’s Cocteau Twins Tribute Compilation Now Available!
The Blog That Celebrates Itself today released its Cocteau Twins tribute album featuring a number of artists from around the world. The album is available on Bandcamp for whatever price you’d like to pay for an outstanding homage to the legendary dreampoppers.
今日The Blog That Celebrates ItselfがCocteau Twinsトリビュートコンピレーションアルバムをリリースした。 Bandcampで好きな値段でダウンロードができる。
http://theblogthatcelebratesitself.bandcamp.com/album/a-tribute-to-cocteau-twins