Are You Ready?

Check this out. (Sorry, small posts all week, I'm not home.)

Au5 (Facebook - Soundcloud)

Fractal (Facebook - Soundcloud)

AFTERGLOWING

I heard a number of great tracks yesterday at Afterglow Festival; a few stood out among them though. One I couldn't find anywhere (hopefully it'll be posted later) which was a remix by P.SUS of The Avalanches' 'Frontier Psychiatrist' which was super chill and just beautifully done. The other track that stood out was this Chrome Sparks remix of Flume's 'Left Alone' ft. Chet Faker. I think I've posted the original of this track here at HGMB before, but I don't remember for sure. I know I've posted Flume though. At any rate: Check out the track here and don't forget to check out their facebooks and soundclouds!

P.SUS (Facebook - Soundcloud)

Chrome Sparks (Facebook - Soundcloud)

Flume (Facebook - Soundcloud)

The rest of the lineup:
CoMa - https://soundcloud.com/dirtyoysterpearl
Owsey - https://soundcloud.com/owsey
Sun Glitters - https://soundcloud.com/sunglitters
Bijou - https://soundcloud.com/bijoudream
Bluetech - https://soundcloud.com/bluetech
Slow Magic - https://soundcloud.com/slowmagic
Beat Culture - https://soundcloud.com/beat-culture
Blackedout - https://soundcloud.com/blvckedout
Breezewax - https://soundcloud.com/breezewax
Ghosts - https://soundcloud.com/ghostsmusic
Noble Oak - https://soundcloud.com/nobleoak
Yimino - https://soundcloud.com/ominim-records
Vaun - https://soundcloud.com/vaunuk
Vital - https://soundcloud.com/musikmaker19
Hubb - https://soundcloud.com/hubb
Spazzkid - https://soundcloud.com/spazzkid
Kodomo - https://soundcloud.com/kodomo
Corduroi - https://soundcloud.com/corduroi
Aztek - https://soundcloud.com/aztekbeats
Real Cosby - https://soundcloud.com/real-cosby
Synaesthetik - https://soundcloud.com/shizmait
Esprit Fantasy - https://soundcloud.com/espritfantasy
Gaszia - https://soundcloud.com/gaszia
Geche - https://soundcloud.com/geche

Astrolab Sessions Vol. VI

I had a great time last night at the Astrolab! Geisha Twins put on a great show. They were by far the funnest group I've seen perform there. They were enthusiastic and very theatrical. Really glad that I've made friends with Audio Impact Entertainment and I'm able to go to the Astrolab Sessions! Geisha Twins closed out the night with Disclosure's 'Latch' ft. Sam Smith, followed by this fantastic remix of Daft Punk's 'Doin' It Right' by Computer Club!

Geisha Twins (Facebook - Soundcloud)

Luv

Found this awesome remix of ∆ (Alt-J)'s Breezeblocks yesterday after a friend had told me to check out the band Girls On Drugs. The track is featured on their ep titled I Am A Luvr and is available at their bandcamp for ₤2 GBP (or more, if you'd like). The rest of the ep is great too, but this track is killer. Check it out!

Girls On Drugs (Facebook - Soundcloud)

Magnum P.I.

It's definitely a Windsurf kind of night.

Windsurf (Official)

Not Public Enemy

M.I.A. released a new video this morning. The track is pretty good I guess, but I don't think she'll ever spit something better than Paper Planes again.

M.I.A. (Facebook - Official)

There's A Way

Here's a beautiful live rendition of Kaskade's '4 AM' in which he's actually singing! Don't think I've ever seen him singing in a video before or at any of the shows I've been to.

Kaskade (Facebook - Soundcloud - Official)

Koreless||Foals

I happened across this amazingly chill remix of Foals' 'Late Night' by Koreless and had to share it. The track is so different from the original, but it works so well. 

Foals (Facebook - Soundcloud - Official)

Koreless (Facebook - Soundcloud - Official)

Village Music Walk

Yesterday I had the pleasure of checking out the Carlsbad Music Festival's (Facebook - Official) little side-festival called Village Music Walk. Village Music Walk featured 44 performances by 30 bands at 13 locations around the downtown Carlsbad area. I had only heard of one of the bands on the docket and I hadn't heard them, just heard of them, so I knew I was in for a treat of new music, I was just hoping that it would be good music... turns out it was... mostly! I started off the early evening (the festival lasted from 5pm-12am) at Magee Park, where I saw a children's Balinese Gamelan group called Giri Nata who put on a spectacular performance. Here's a little video of a similar group from the Center For World Music here in San Diego. This is not the same group of children, but the same program.

Giri Nata (Official - Youtube)

After that I wandered around for a bit and ended up heading back to Magee Park for Trouble in the Wind, a band described as "A multi-intrumental collective able to spin larger than life, rich cinematic talks and to pain movie-like pictures on stage full of drama and imagery." I don't get the pretty talk, here's some real talk. It was a folk-rock band. They were good. Here's a video of them:

Trouble in the Wind (Facebook - Official - Bandcamp)

After their little set I made my way over to Spin Records (Facebook) to see Nathan Hubbard perform. Nathan put on a great show with a makeshift thumb organ type instrument, a glockenspiel, and some other seemingly homemade instruments which he looped and altered through use of an effects pedal. I couldn't find a video of the same setup he used, but here's a video of another performance from him.

Nathan Hubbard (Official)

After Nathan finished his set I made my way over to the It's a Grind coffee shop and checked out MandoBasso, a Mandolin/Stand-Up Bass duo. They played some some nice little tunes, including a song written to one of their Dogs, and another song I really enjoyed called Solstice Jig. Here they are performing their track 'Bill's Blues.'

MandoBasso (Facebook)

After relaxing to their tunes for a bit and buying an iced mocha (it was pretty hot out!) I made my way over to the old Carlsbad Train Station, now a museum called "Visit Carlsbad!" where I saw Freako Suave. Freako Suave is a band that I had heard of before, and I'd seen two of their members perform before, in different bands, but I hadn't ever seen them together. They put on a great little bluegrass/folk show. Here they are performing "I'll Be Alright" at the Boar's Crossin' sometime last year.

Freako Suave (Facebook - Bandcamp)

From there I made my way over to the Foundry @ New Village Arts Theater to check out the Teeny-Tiny Pit Orchestra (Official). On my way there I ran into a friend who joined me on our quest for good music. However, neither of us were very impressed with the Teeny-Tiny Pit Orchestra and ended up heading back over to Spin Records where we saw the indie/folk-rock band Second Cousins. They sounded great, wish I had heard their whole set instead of wasting the first half on the previous band. Here's Second Cousins performing 'Royal Blu.'

Second Cousins (Facebook - Bandcamp)

When Second Cousins finished their set we made our way over to Viz Art Ink Gallery to check out no know (sound band) self described as "Unknowing sound band approach is well known: walk thin lines, reject ideas that thinking thoughts think, proceed to create a sound sound." I'd describe the duo as speaking in tongues through instruments. Here they are performing at the San Diego Museum of Art, July of last year.

no know (sound band) (Official)

After checking them out for a bit, we made our way to the Boar's Crossin' where we saw the end of another set by Freako Suave, and hung around for the next performance by a straight up rock band called The Paragraphs. The Paragraphs seemed pretty predictable, despite their description in the festival's handout saying "You never know what to expect from their live show- since lead singer/guitarist Jesse Lee Hofbauer is as unpredictable as a seasonal tornado." I thought they were good musicians, but they didn't stand out to me as almost all the rest of the performances I had seen that night. Here they are at a performance last November.

The Paragraphs (Facebook - Bandcamp)

After The Paragraphs finished up we made our way back to The Foundry and hung out while DJ Lexicon Devil spun some old vinyl and we socialized. I got a chance to talk to Colin from Freako Suave for quite a bit. We chatted about experiences at music festivals like Bonnaroo and Sasquatch and how superior they are to Coachella. Haha. I also ran into Sean and Andrew from no know (sound band) and got a chance to talk to them about their show and thanked them for playing for us North County folk (they're from San Diego). I'm really glad to see more action in the music scene up here in North County besides just bar shows. I travel down to San Diego quite a bit for music and having events like this up here is really nice. All in all it was a great little event and it definitely has me looking forward to the actual festival in September.

Chillstep

An artist I've just recently heard of, Phaeleh (pronounced fella), just released a new track today, and it's pretty spectacular. Phaeleh is Matt Preston, a classically trained musician from Bristol. He currently only has one album out, 2010's Fallen Light. Though he has a new album coming soon entitled Tides. Tides will features this song, 'So Far Away' as well as 'Whistling in the Dark' which I posted back at the beginning of the month (check out that post here). Phaeleh will be playing October 5th at the Casbah, here in San Diego and I definitely intend on checking out this show! Check em out and if you dig it, pick up the album July 1st and consider checking him out while he's on tour!

Phaeleh (Facebook - Soundcloud - Official)

Feels Like Rolling

Saw some great news yesterday that múm (pronounced "moom") is releasing a new album, Smilewound in less than 3 months! The new album has eleven tracks, one of which features Kylie Minogue. I absolutely love these guys and have been listening to them for at least ten years now, since my dear friend Marielle introduced me to them in our early college days. Generally labeled as IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), their catalog of sounds spans from beautiful to quirky. The Icealandic band formed in 1997; their first album, Flugmaður was released back in 1999, and the band has released six other albums, three EPs, and a number of singles. múm's sound has changed over the years, particularly with the band seeing some members come and go. Despite their flux of sound, they always please and I'm very excited to hear this new track, and am looking forward to the whole album September sixth!

múm (Facebook - Official)

24 Hour Drummer Boy

So Andrew W.K. Our Planet Earth Resident Party Animal is setting off on an adventure to break the world record for playing drums in a store! His goal is 24 hours, and he's got a lineup of a bunch of fun people coming to jam out with him as well. Guest drummers include Marky Ramone (a bandmate and fellow hard partier), Liberty DeVitto (Former Billy Joel drummer), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Nick Jonas, Zac Hanson, aaaaand ?uestlove. Who knows, maybe more too! Watch him as he lays the beats down!

Get More: O Music Awards

Six Videos.

I'm not writing today, but I'm giving you a whole lot of music. So many great songs/videos have come out over the last couple days that even at one post a day, I've just got a bunch here I don't know what to do with, so, here's a bunch of videos. Enjoy them. If you like them, look for more from the band, do whatever you do.

June 14th:
Tape Five - Fabulous Swing Kid


June 17th:
Draper - Men & Machines

Foals - Bad Habit


June 18th:
Fuck Buttons - The Red Wing

Die Antwoord - Cookie Thumper

The Postal Service - A Tattered Line of String

Golden Hands

A new video was released today from the famous directing duo FLEUR & MANU, who also directed the trio of videos for M83's 'Midnight City,' 'Reunion,' and 'Wait,' as many other great videos. This track, much different than M83 is from Gesaffelstein, a French Techno artist with loads of promise. Gesaffelstein has a number of eps under his belt as well as copious amounts of remixes and is said to be working on (and hopefully wrapping up soon) his first full length album. So check out 'Pursuit' the new single and video, and if you dig it check out some of his older ep's and remixes via Youtube or his Soundcloud!

Gesaffelstein (Facebook - Official - Soundcloud)

The Feral Goddess Returns

James Holden's new album, The Inheritors, comes out tomorrow and I'm super stoked for it. His last album release, The Idiots Are Winning was back in 2006 and while he's released a few things here and there with other projects, and a few singles, it hasn't been enough. I need some more Holden in my life! Really excited for this album to drop... hopefully it's as good if not better than this single, 'Gone Feral' taken from the album.

James Holden (Facebook - Official)

Struggling For Freedom

I Love You, But I've Chosen Darkness, who has one of the best band names ever, is a band I just found today. A friend posted this video on facebook for another friend, and I checked it out too. Excellent gothic-rock... dark, brooding, stressful, almost post-rock sound. The band, a 4-piece group from Austin, Texas, has only one album, released in 2006, titled Fear Is on Our Side, and a self-titled ep from 2003. The band has two other videos, one for the track 'According to Plan' and one for 'Today We Choose Faces." But I really love this video for 'The Owl.'

I Love You, But I've Chosen Darkness (Facebook - Official)

Flim Flam

Saw this cover posted somewhere... facebook, or reddit maybe, I don't remember. It's a pretty awesome cover of Aphex Twin's track 'Flim.' Now, I'd like to mention a couple other things about this track that are hilarious, but have nothing to do with this cover. A while back, on December 2nd, 2011, Skrillex posted 'Flim' on his facebook, stating it was his favorite song of all time and had a number of responses from hundreds of idiots asking where the drop was. Hilarious. Sad. Absurd. At any rate, here's the original if you haven't heard it, or need a little refresher for comparison. And here's an awesome little jazzy cover of it, which, I just realized has embedding disabled. BLAH. Ok, well, I guess you're just gonna have to go to youtube to check it out. Here it is: CLICK ME!

Derivative Crappy 70's Crap Crap Crap Rock

GWAR, the hilarious satirical heavy metal band covers Kansas' 'Carry On Wayward Son' for The AV Club 2012 serires. The AV Club features a list of songs and artists and invites other bands to come in and cover them. There's been some great renditions of songs that have come from this online program run by The Onion News Network, some of which I think I've even posted here before.

Some other favorites of mine:
Grouplove cover Andrew WK - Party Hard
Baths cover LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
The Polyphonic Spree cover Neil Young - Heart of Gold
Dresden Dolls cover Neutral Milk Hotel - Two-Headed Boy
Father John Misty cover The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists cover Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Of Montreal cover The White Stripes - Fell in Love with a Girl
Nada Surf cover New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
Deer Tick cover Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta
Reggie Watts cover Van Halen - Panama

Cartoon Kids

This has got to be one of the best music videos ever. I just heard this band for the first time today, so I haven't got much info on them, but this song is from their first album, Native To, and they just released a new album, Is Leaving. The trio, hailing from London perform with veiled faces and describe their music as a bass heavy, beat driven, pop-influenced lo-fi dance music. Anyway, check out the video and if you dig the track, check out some more of their music!

Is Tropical (Facebook - Tumblr - Soundcloud - Official)

Swaps

My friend posted this Feint track on her Facebook and I liked it enough to check out the rest of Feint's catalog. I thought I had heard of the band before, but I couldn't place where. Turns out they are a Monstercat group, and I'd def heard a couple tracks of theirs, and some they had with other artists as well. Feint, a (typically) liquid/drum n bass artist from Clitheroe/Manchester, UK, is Andy Isaac H. He's been producing music since he was 17 (now 20) and has a number of eps and singles out, but still lacks a complete album. He's been a busy guy though, he's young and just graduated from Manchester University (according to his Facebook) so maybe he'll start working on an album now? Mebbe? At any rate, check out Feint's 'My Sunset,' and if you're one of those people who needs more guitar in their life, check out this version with someone playing guitar over it.

Feint (Facebook - Bandcamp - Soundcloud)

Fandom

So I've been a fan of Chino Moreno for some time. Some of you may know Chino as the singer for Deftones, or the singer for Team Sleep, or the singer for ††† (Crosses). He's now got yet another band, Palms. I picked up some tickets to check them out July 10th at the Belly Up in Solana Beach. I've seen all the previous bands he's sung for and enjoyed them all, and I'm really excited to see how this band turns out. There's no video yet, but they just released this little album teaser late last month. Really excited for it! You can check out a full track here, via the Ipecac Recordings Soundcloud.

Palms (Facebook)

Bloody McCartney

Oh man... Can't wait to see what becomes of this pairing! Sorry for the short post, I'm not at home.

Glad You Like It

I really can't get enough of La Musique Numerique, the new album from AM & Shawn Lee. The follow-up to 2011's Celestial Electric was just released early last month and it's been on regular rotation for me since I picked it up. The first track hooks you pretty much immediately with it's funky bass line and the album continues to reel you in the rest of the way through. 'Two Times' is the name of the first track, and happens to be the first single from the album as well. The video, released May 9th is pretty fun as well. Check it out and if you like it, be sure to check out the full album!

AM & Shawn Lee (Facebook - Soundcloud - Official)

AM (Facebook)

Shawn Lee (Facebook)

Mountain Trekking

Picked up the new Gold Panda album Half of Where You Live and it's wonderful. The album, officially released June 10th, doesn't have any videos as of now, but I thought I'd share a track with you anyway. This track, 'We Work Nights,' is the second single, the first being 'Brazil.' I enjoy 'We Work Nights' over 'Brazil' quite a bit. It's more chill and like many other Gold Panda fans, I'm not into the constant repeating of the word 'Brazil' in the track. It gets old real quick. 'We Work Nights' is a solid track though. Can't wait to see if Gold Panda releases a legitimate video for it!

Gold Panda (Facebook - Soundcloud - Official)

Sycamore Stripped

I am absolutely in love with this low-key version of 'Sycamore Silhouetting' from Bibio. Not that the original isn't low-key, but this is super stripped down and it just makes it that much more beautiful. I've posted about Bibio a few times, this album in specific, so I don't have much to say this time. So yeah... chill... relax... enjoy...

Bibio (Facebook - Soundcloud)

Doors

Tristam's new video for 'Truth' came out today. The video is beautiful, featuring awesome video editing of two lovely ladies going through doors into separate worlds/scenery. 'Truth' has yet to be released on a full length album, as Tristam has yet to release a full length album. It can be found as a single though, and was released last year.

Tristam (Facebook - Soundcloud)

Not TMBG

I am so glad that wompy dubstep is kind of sputtering out it's last wompy breaths. I've always like pretty dubstep, and dark brooding dubstep much, much better. Don't know what I'm talking about? Don't know what real dubstep sounds like? Check out this artist, Phaeleh. Gorgeous music. Here's 'Whistling in the Dark' from Phaeleh's upcoming album (due July 1st) Tides.

Phaeleh (Facebook - Soundcloud)

Playing God

'Fight For Everyone' is a super catchy track from The Leisure Society, an indie-pop-rock group from England. The track, from their third album, Alone Aboard The Ark, is fun, infectious, and might have you singing along by the end of the track! The video is super cute (reminds me of the fun ways to die video in a way). Check it out, and if you dig it check out some more of their music via Facebook, Soundcloud, et al.

The Leisure Society (Facebook - Soundcloud - Official)

Anonymous vs Acta!

Absolutely love this video! The song is great, but this video is absolutely hilarious. The "World" as it's perceived online. 'Planet Online' from NΞosignal. Check out their facebook and soundcloud for more tracks and infor on the German "Neo Digital Krautrock" group.

Neosignal (Facebook - Soundcloud - Official)

All I Want For My Birthday...

IS A BIG BOOTY HO!

I'M IN THE KITCHEN, YAMS EVERYWHERE

IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY

BAD BITCH CONTEST, YOU IN FIRST PLACE!

Yup, it's like that.