From the forests of Merrill, Wisconsin, Zola Jesus a.k.a. Nika Roza Danilova creates dark, entrancing and powerful music. She’s recently toured with the XX, Warpaint, and Fever Ray, and is known as someone special to look out for, especially come this Fall 2011 when her third full length album Conatus arrives. The first single Vessel has appeared as a beautiful introduction and maturity to what Zola Jesus’ future looks like ahead.  She also recently performed and created a Daytrotter Session featuring another taste of what to expect. If you are not familar with some of Zola Jesus’s earlier work, be sure to listen to Night from her second album, Stridulum II featured last year. Enjoy ♥

Artwork by Brian M Viveros

gothenburg, sweden’s air france recently shared a new comforting musical surprise called it feels good to be around you and will soon be releasing it on the label, sincerely yours. enjoy ♥

i remember when i was supposed to do the page which says “a city is not a home..” and i suggested a line beneath the text to make it more elegant. after one and an half hour of trying back and forth with different lengths of the line, joel says “maybe it should be hand drawn and maybe it could break in the centre like it was drawn by someone in great mental pain?” and i was like “nigga wut?”

just to make it clear why we had to wait for this.
and why it was so fucking worth it.
(via air france)

Swerving in and out inside a deep spectrum of intensity is M83‘s new single “Midnight City,” soon to be featured on their upcoming 22 track release, Hurry Up We’re Dreaming. Drums pulsate like flickering traffic lights off and on while guitars meditate into silver electricity, rocketed within synthesizer sounds scratching the energy of a mesmerizing, exploding beat that keeps the track completely youthful and alive.

L I S T E N M83 – Midnight City (Hurry Up We’re Dreaming, 2011)

A R T W O R K Bec Winnel

you spent the first five years
trying to get with the plan
and the next five years
trying to be with your friends again

The song All My Friends was featured on LCD Soundsystem’s second album “Sound of Silver,” which was released in May 2007. Known as one of the best songs of that year, the nostalgic sounds still sound as good, if not better now than when it originally came out. Enjoy!

New York’s Twin Sister have recently shared their new single Bad Street, and the accompanying 10″ featuring two b-sides for free download over on their website. Over the years, they have freely shared their indie pop music and have been known to put on remarkable underground live shows. For those who have been following their music and those soon to freshly enjoy, it’s exciting to announce that Twin Sister’s forthcoming debut LP In Heaven will be released September 27 on Domino Records, following a national US tour.

L I S T E N:

Twin Sister – Bad Street

(In Heaven, 2011)

Yesterday, the world lost the golden voice of Amy Winehouse.

It’s been a sad weekend thinking of her life of the tough addictions she tried to survive with, and listening back on her soulful music that became known so quickly. Her catchy and melodic hooks inside tones of such funky blues, made audiences become instantly addicted to her sounds. As a whole we watched her publically struggle as her fame rose, and it seemed almost all too powerful for even a singing powerhouse to control. Personally when others would discuss Amy Winehouse, it was easy to withdraw from others negativity as it was important to realize there was a tragic sense of pain that this woman was desperately trying to overcome.

Amy Winehouse loved to sing; her strong harmonies were one of the greatest catharthisis that seemed to get her through, and others who instantly related to her gravitating sounds. As a teenager, Amy went to the same UK performing art school as songstresses Adele, Duffy, and Leona Lewis. All girls definitely strove for the same type of passion in their vocals, and earned their own notability for what they contributed to our music industry. However different in their own way, Amy had an old-soul intensity from the rest that showcased a complete vulnerability displayed as pure, genuine, and original.

When a musical great passes away, their music seems to enhance to a sacred degree. Strangely aged the same as her predecessors Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin before, each died in their own devastating way at the age of 27, and are known as apart of the Forever 27 Club. As Billy Joel use to sing “Only the good die young…”, maybe it’s true as their music was too rare for those that couldn’t understand it. Luckily for those that did with Amy Winehouse, we are left with her debut album Frank, and sophmore album Back to Black which will always hold a special place in our musical hearts.

L I S T E N

Amy Winehouse – October Song
(Frank, 2003)

Amy Winehouse – He Can Only Hold Her
(Back to Black, 2008)

Maynard James Keenan has one of the most cerebral yet earth-shattering vocals in Alternative Rock music. Rockstars and fans alike still hold high regard for anything that Maynard works on, and today marvel at how one possesses such demonic melodies, angelic harmonies and near perfected screams. Whether it be the leader of Tool, the side projects of A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer, or collaborations with Deftones, Rage Against the Machine, or even Tori Amos, Maynard turns creativity into masterpieces.

While Maynard’s currently on tour with A Perfect Circle, his project Puscifer has an upcoming album “Conditions of My Parole”, expected to be released on October 18, 2011. Enjoy the new single “Man Overboard” in the video stream below!

Listen: Puscifer – Momma Sed [Tandimonium Remix]
(from the album V Is For Viagra: The Remixes, 2008)

Created as a mad fun-house and disaster zone by UK beloved artists, the Unfairgrounds entranced those looking to escape from the chaos of the Glastonbury Festival this past weekend and buy a ticket to enjoy themselves in a plane and car crash, zombie-filled carnival.

Thom York and Nigel Of Radiohead joined in on the fun, and played a surprise guest DJ set to the limited amount of people that decided to cross over to the dark side. Below is a personal message from Thom, and a mixtape of what was heard during those 4 hours of their DJ set. Please enjoy!

~*~

mmm you know away from the celebrity media circus on the other side of the valley, the OTHER glastonbury happened.
the one you aren’t reading much about, the one they couldn’t hang.
the fun, chilled out and insane one.
the one that couldn’t give a flying toss who you are really. the one we went for.
the one around the stone circle, and under the flags. in the rabbit hole. in the darkest depths of shangri-la.
around the van de graff lightning generator crackling through in soaking sky,
and in a crashed aeroplane fuselage where we and our friends were.. nigel and i Djing.. until dawn
here’s a selection of what we played.

(Note: Track 08 will be coming soon
when the Lone remix of Radiohead’s Feral
has been officially released. Thank you~)