THE PLAYLIST
Yellow Fang (feat. Cyndi Seui) / Kae Piang
To celebrate this year’s Record Store Day (April 22), homegrown garage-rock darlings Yellow Fang team up with Bungkumhouse Records and Cyndi Seui for an exclusive, limited 7” vinyl. Here, the girls are sharing with us lead single Kae Piang, which, on the surface, sounds like a typical Yellow Fang track which fuses lo-fi garage with shoegaze stylings. But as the song wears on, we’re treated to a few sonic surprises which arrive in the form of Cyndi Seui’s synth-pop influence and producer Jay Monton’s experimental electronic flair.
Forest Swords / Arms Out
Operating under Forest Swords, UK producer Matthew Barnes makes the kind of noir electronic music that would befit an ancient pagan ritual. After a four-year hiatus following the release of his 2013 debut Engravings, Barnes returns with the promise of a new LP, Compassion. We’ve previously heard lead single The Highest Flood and now it’s time for its successor Arms Out. The track is a sombre ambient number built on textured electronics and garbled vocal samples. A lush orchestral arrangement near the end adds a certain majestic quality that typically underpins his compositions.
Alt-J / In Cold Blood
The latest offering from Alt-J sees the Leeds lads returning to their left-field brand of indie-rock, a trait that’s gone AWOL on their uncharacteristically subdued previous single, 3WW. On In Cold Blood, the trio serve up flamboyant brass and chant-like lines about a summer pool party: “Cut my somersaults and my backflip … Hair the way the sun really wants it to be/ Whiskey soda, please, your G&T is empty.” The poolside shindig then turns dark as vocalist Joe Newman lets out a trademark “la la la” hook and continues, “Kelly, let’s dive, dive down/ To the pool’s bottom where we belong/ Kelly, we’re sinking like a bleeding stone.”
Amber Coffman / No Coffee
Fun fact: Amber Coffman is a former member of Dirty Projectors as well as former lover of its frontman Dave Longstreth. After their split, Longstreth released a break-up record which is promptly followed by Coffman’s announcement of her own forthcoming solo debut. No Coffee draws its inspiration from ‘70s vintage soul-pop, recalling folk songstress Jewel and indie husband-wife duo Tennis. The lyrics, while containing traces of melancholia, are delivered with breezy honesty: “Don’t need no coffee, I’m wide awake/ I’m not much for sleeping when your love is at stake.”
Sleep Party People / The Missing Steps
Despite a slightly misguiding name, Sleep Party People is officially a solo project of a bunny mask-donning Danish artist Brian Batz who sometimes plays live shows alongside a bunch of other bunny mask-donning friends. The Missing Steps
is the first taste of his upcoming fourth LP Lingering, a studio follow-up to 2014’s dream-pop opus, Floating. The track goes down like a nice little post-rock pill, thanks to its hazy soundscape and Batz’s spaced-out, reverbdrenched vocals that sound like a less depressing version of Thom Yorke’s.