Takako Minekawa explored the possibilities of experimental pop with albums like “Roomic Cube”, “Cloudy Cloud Calculator”, and “Maxi on”. It’s been 13 years since “Maxi On” and this upcoming album was made in collaboration with Dustin Wong. Dustin was the guitarist for the band Ponytail, and has released 2 solo records, “Infinite Love” and “Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads” through Thrill Jockey. This collection of songs were completely produced and recorded by the two at home. The music strikes a lovely balance of homemade coziness and experimentation with charming humor . The two’s musicality and human qualities galvanized into something brilliantly heart warming. Dustin Wong’s minimal yet imaginative surreal sound created through his guitar and pedals in combination with Takako Minekawa’s graceful and eloquent voice, and the use of sampling, drum machine and keyboards resulted into a colorful and fantastic world. The sounds roll and change organically, gently taking the listener by the hand through a forest and to the sea. (STREET DATE - 6/04/2013)
CD $16.00
06/04/2013
***Born 22 years ago in Miami Florida, but now residing in Los Angeles California, TEAMS (aka SEAN BOWIE) first started writing and recording music at the age of 16, with his first digital release Catch Pool coming in the summer of 2010. Two further releases followed, the gloriously tranquil yet toweringly powerful We Have A Room With Everything and a collaborative project alongside the UK based producer Star Slinger entitled Teams vs. Star Slinger on the Mexican Summer imprint. It was this EP that really demonstrated just how versatile, innovative and exciting Teams could be, with a collection of vinyl samples reworked and slotted into a matrix of hip hop beats with a sophisticated electronic flavour. His debut album Dxys Xff was released in April 2011 through AmDiscs and it cemented Teams’s reputation as one of the most exciting underground producers of the moment. A complete melting pot of lush beats, ambient melodies and vast soundscapes that drag you into the shadows then put you into a trance.
CD $16.00
09/18/2012
* Now available on CD!!!! CD has 2 bonus tracks!!!!!! Blackbird Blackbird (formerly Bye Bye Blackbird) is a prolific dream pop musician from San Francisco, California. In 2010, Blackbird Blackbird, a.k.a. Mikey Sanders has been written about several times as a most-blogged-artist on The Hype Machine, and risen to prominence due to his constant stream of high-quality recordings. A literature major at UCSC, Sanders has incorporated his love for contemporary art, philosophy, literary theory and William S. Burroughs-esque cut-up techniques to break down genres and collapse the formative model for perceiving pop music. His blend of experimental pop is randomly blissful,--psychedelic wisps of imagination collide with structured, hierarchical modes of classification such as pop, classical, folk, and progressive music. In short, Sanders blends his own creative imagination with old formations of genre to create something new and original. In interviews, the 23-year-old Mikey has discussed growing up highly influenced by My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, M83, Joy Division, and New Order. His music and style are unique, experimental and unclassifiable. "Blackbird Blackbird - Summer Heart: suction, submersion, concentration-enhancing concave beats and warm streaks of chill-haze. 8/10" -- Drowned in Sound "Sanders is adept at creating starry gems of considerable calibre." --Nialler9 "Sometimes it is hard to believe that Mikey Sanders, aka San Francisco dream pop wunderkid Blackbird Blackbird, has only been active since the beginning of 2010. With a slew of EPs, a full length (re-recorded with the obligatory extra remixes...
CD $16.00
08/02/2011
NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! "The very premise of this musical-executives borrowing an apartment to cheat on their wives -makes this show entertainment for grown-ups. If you're cool with your older children being exposed to infidelity to the nth degree, they will likely enjoy the wit of the dialogue and the bouncy score. But take note: there is a suicide attempt and a drunk scene-not exactly fare for young ones. The debut LP by Ridgewood, NJ shoegazers BIG TROUBLES. It's pretty good. Parental advisory stickers not included. "This immense new album from Big Troubles follows on from a great four-song EP for the Olde English Spelling Bee singles club, featuring the New Jersey fuzz-pop project bejewelled with pop hooks and spurts of brain-scorching noise. There's an abundance of blistering C86-style pop nuggets on here, from the distortion-surfing 'Bite Yr Tongue' to the euphorically hooked-up 'Freudian Slips'. There's an overwhelmingly fizzy, treble-some recording style here which imbues the whole thing with a hazy, nostalgic quality that reminds us of everything from My Bloody Valentine to The Jesus and Mary Chain to Dinosaur Jr at their very peak - making for one of the standout lo-fi pop records of the year bar none. Very highly recommended."-Boomkat. CD version features 8 bonus tracks! Imported from Japan.
CD $16.00
07/05/2011
***NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! "Jet Set Siempre # 1 is a collaboration between Hokkaido, Japan's CLIVE TANAKA and another equally elusive group called Su Orquesta. As Get Off The Coast pointed out in the Best of Tapes post, Jet Set has two personalities, each with four songs: For Dance and For Romance. Dance is a series of finely crafted smooth vocoded pop pleas for affection and devotion, while Romance, though composed of clean airy instrumental mid-tempo jams, is a sort of pastoral departure from its bumping counterpart. The theme that unites both sides is a sort of very delicate yet restrained sense of intimacy, no doubt a side effect of hikikomori, of which Tanaka in fact suffers. Vocals on Jet Set are almost exclusively processed through vocoder; it's only in 'Neu Chicago' where Tanaka let's his guard down and we get a glimpse of what we can only assume is his voice. --Ric Leichtung, International Tapes . CD version features two bonus tracks! Imported from Japan.
CD $16.00
07/05/2011