FRICTION @ Mercury Lounge w/ Crystal Antlers, Chairlift, and Religious Knives | 7.8.08

Posted: June 30th, 2008 | Author: justin | Filed under: FRICTION, events, noise, nyc, psych, synth | No Comments »

GET HYPE! Long Beach California’s Crystal Antlers bring their pummeling live show to the East Coast for this installment of FRICTION at The Mercury Lounge on July 8th. With an explosive build-up of noise and melody blended with raw vocals and twisting riffs, this quintet has mastered the art of thrash. Brooklyn synthfolk darlings Chairlift (who’s debut LP, Does You Inspire You is about to drop) and borough-mates Religious Knives (Resin recently reviewed here), best known to dish out delicious plates of noise, round out this bill.

This will be the last of what seemed like a crazy string of shows every other week since the beginning of May, as FRICTION returns to its once a month schedule for the remainder of the summer. Advance tickets are on sale now, doors at 7:30pm.

Long Beach’s CRYSTAL ANTLERS have mastered the art of thrash, that combustible build-up of noise and melody that so many others have tried to harness, only to fail in a miserable pool of fuzzy annoyance. Blending messy, raspy vocals with pummeling drums, writhing riffs and strident organs, the band produce a kaleidoscopic tornado of inflection that’s so right-this-very-moment. [Orange County Weekly]
[MP3]: “A Thousand Eyes”

CHAIRLIFT digs deep for its inspiration. The groups Daylight Savings EP, while tethered to a solid core of hook-laden, keyboard driven indie-rock, opens its arms wide to encompass stabs of psychedelia and winsomely quirky, oh-so-slight vocals which evoke Kate Bush as much as Regina Spektor. The trio knows how to skirt the edge of pretension with out falling over, and makes a chirpy, joyously brainy noise in the process. [The Onion]
[MP3]: “Evident Utensil”

The animal musk of The Velvet Underground spiral drones intermingles with the decadent perfume of a David Lynch noir to devastating effect, this is death disco in the best tradition of Public Image Ltd, and when RELIGIOUS KNIVES decide it is the moment to finish us off the only thing we’ll regret is having to abandon this spectral chamber which they call home. [20jazzfunkgreats]
[MP3]: “The Sun”

In part with:

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Kamphopo

Posted: June 10th, 2008 | Author: justin | Filed under: African, pop, synth | No Comments »

It all started with the sale of a bike. After moving from East Africa to East London in 1999, Esau Mwamwaya ran a second-hand furniture store down the street from ghettopop duo Radioclit’s studio. The story goes that one of the Radioclit guys bought a bike off of Esau and later invited him to one of their housewarming parties, where they “made friends” and the rest was history. Nearly a year later, Esau is primed to release his debut Radioclit-produced long player on a label TBA.

Growing up in Malawi’s capitol, Lilongwe, Esau played drums in a variety of bands including Masaka Band and also played with the legendary reggae singer Evison “The Prophet” Matafale before he died in late 2001. Prior to his Radioclit collaboration, Mwamwaya sang only cover songs in his previous bands, mostly traditional Malawai tracks. He now writes his own songs inspired by life experiences and nature. Mwamwaya’s work with Radioclit brings together chopa, African reggae, and his angelic traditionally-styled Malawian vocal harmonies spiraled into waves of Radioclit’s synths and everything from house, krunk, and 80s music. The resulting sound is uplifting roots-based funk.

Prior to the release of the Mwamwaya’s LP (which includes collaborations with M.I.A., Vampire Weekend, Santogold, and Bonde Do Role), he’ll release a mixtape which includes a cover of Architecture In Helsinki track “Heart It Races” titled “Kamphopo.” Check out the cover below, along with “Chalo” a demo from his studio work with Radioclit. Those of you living in London can see Mwamwaya this Friday at Notting Hill Art’s Club for Radioclit’s new jungle/bongo dance party “Secousse.”

[MP3]: Esau Mwamwaya  ”Kamphopo”
Mixtape, TBA; 2008
[MP3]: Esau Mwamwaya  ”Chalo”
TBA, TBA; 2008

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