“The inspiration for the album was my budding collaboration with Joel Hamilton. Joel and I have pretty eclectic musical taste and influences. We thought a covers EP could help delve us further into this new world/sound we are creating together. And also to put ourselves in a world of no rules...just see what happens if we let ourselves go.”
Recorded at Seattle’s Avast Studio, the album pairs Nadler for the first time with producer Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O), Wolves in the Throne Room). Dunn matches Nadler’s darkness by creating a multi-colored sonic palette that infuses new dimensions into her songs. Eyvand Kang’s strings, Steve Moore’s synths, and Phil Wandscher’s guitar lines escalate the whole affair to a panoramic level of beautiful, eerie wonder.
Her voice, too, is something to behold here, at once clarion but heavy with the kind of tear-stained emotion you hear on scratchy old country records by Tammy Wynette and Sammi Smith. Long gone are the days when Nadler summoned images of 1960s folk singers who got lost in the woods. She is a cosmic force on “July,” shooting these songs to euphoric highs and heartbreaking lows.
Celebrated for her crystalline soprano, she explores her lower register to profound effect throughout “July,” turning “1923” into a cinematic ode to forlorn love. Strings cradle Nadler’s vocals, cresting in a climax that is somehow vast yet still intimate. If you were to hear only one song from “July” – which would be a shame, by the way – let it be “1923.” It is Nadler in miniature: haunted, elegiac, and epic.
Pop Psychology was recorded throughout 2013 in Cabo San Lucas, Los Angeles, and Provo and was produced and mixed by Tim Pagnotta, who also produced the band's smash hits "Animal" and "Everybody Talks". The new album continues Neon Trees' exploration of new wave, smart pop, and dance music, resulting in their most refined album to date. Pop Psychology boasts infectious alternative synth pop ready for the radio, shower, car and dance floor.
Tyler Glenn says of Pop Psychology, "The album is so special to me personally because it basically started from a place where I was broken and uninterested in anything to do with music. I had reached a breaking point. For me this record is a celebration, a cry for help, an admission of self doubt, and a revelation of self acceptance. At the very least, it's a pop record, and to me the purest example of the sound of Neon Trees."
Neon Trees will kick off 2014 by storming the airwaves with several confirmed television appearances. On Thursday, January 16th, the band will return to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon followed by a performance the next morning on TODAY. On January 22nd, they'll return to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. This spring Neon Trees will hit the road for a massive headlining North American tour. Dates to be announced shortly.
Neon Trees is Tyler Glenn (lead vocals, keys) Chris Allen (guitars), Branden Campbell (bass), and Elaine Bradley (drums, vocals).
2012 marked a pivotal year for the Brooklyn-based producer Francis Harris in which his true potential as a composer, producer and Scissor and Thread label head was revealed. With years of DJing at the world's top clubs and over fifty electronic dance music releases as Adultnapper, Sycophant Slags and lightbluemover to his credit, one might think he had reached the pinnacle of his career, or at least firmly established his niche. It was then that Harris dropped his Adultnapper alias, stepping to the fore under his given name with his first full length, Leland, an album conceived as a requiem to his father. Francis recently announced the second LP under his real name called Minutes of Sleep, set for a February 24th 2014 on Scissor and Thread.
The first single "You Can Always Leave" -- featuring trumpet from No Regular Play's Greg Paulus -- was given a gorgeous 8mm video treatment, with the crackling tactile elements of film adding depth to the chilly track. Noisey premiered the Kenneth James Gibson-directed video today, and it can be seen on YouTube here. It's "a haunting, hypnotic electro track from the Brooklyn-based producer that sounds like a cold blast smacking you in the face. The swirling beats of the deeply personal track swallow you up, offering the ideal soundtrack for trudging through the blustery streets." Previously, Terre Thaemlitz recently provided a hypnotic remix of the track under her DJ Sprinkles name as well.
On Minutes of Sleep, Francis continues to grapple with the subjects of memory, loss and profound grief that suffused his acclaimed debut Leland. Writing this time in tribute to his mother who sadly passed the following year, he revisits deeply personal territory on with newfound perspective, heightened confidence and a markedly refined approach, yielding a noticeably matured and eloquent statement which transcends sorrowful brooding and rumination. It was through recording Leland that Harris first broke from his decade long preoccupation with solitary electronic music production.
Sweet Soubrette's dark, edgy love songs feature the songwriting, vocals and ukulele of Ellia Bisker (recipient of four ASCAP Plus Awards for her songwriting), along with a talented backing band of bass, drums, piano, strings, and horns. Bisker honed her performance chops playing ukulele in the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, and the glittery eyelashes she wears onstage hint at her vaudevillean origins. Bisker’s songs explore troubled love and the mysteries of existence. She is also a regular participant in a literary songwriting series, the Bushwick Book Club, which has inspired a number of book-themed songs, including the title track of the band’s new album, Burning City (based on the novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut).
The Brooklyn-based Sweet Soubrette has been described as “indie rock meets cabaret” (Worcester Magazine), “dark vaudeville-pop” (Philadelphia Inquirer) and “one part circus performer, one part poet, third part rock star” (CultureMob). The Deli Magazine praises Sweet Soubrette as "one of New York's most intriguing songwriting forces...rock star command and intelligently crafted music." Time Out New York says "Sweet Soubrette's style comes with a pinch of Regina Spektor quirk and a spoonful of old-timey burlesque.” Sweet Soubrette plays frequently in NYC, has appeared in festivals including CMJ, the New York Uke Fest, the Berkshire Fringe, the Tinderbox Music Festival, the Ladybug Festival, the Paris Uke Fest, and Hudson Water Music, and has toured in the Northeastern U.S., Italy, and France.
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Today marks the much-anticipated premiere of our new video for the song "Lost Kitten", in which director Sammy Rawal leads us on an unusual search for home. Shot over two days in Mexico City, the clip features acclaimed ballroom dancer/actor Sheldon McIntosh (otherwise known as Tynomi Banks, the name he goes by when performing in drag), and showcases Rawal's hyper-stylized use of bold color and unique choreography.
In Rawal's reimagining of the archetypal heroic journey, Sheldon embarks on a mysterious pilgrimage through Mexico City and into the canal maze of Xochimilco on a flat-bottomed trajinera in search of his house mother, an “angel" in his memories. Upon reaching his destination, Sheldon delivers an epic vogueing performance (!) to celebrate his spiritual reunion with the maternal. His massive on-screen presence is only amplified by his bold attire: sequined jacket and kitten heels.
The shoot itself proved as colorful as the concept. Airport troubles delayed Sheldon's arrival to within hours of when filming was scheduled to begin. A striking figure at 6 foot 2, Sheldon's choice of travel wear was a pair of high heeled boots which had him towering above the local community as he attempted to navigate the busy pedestrian streets. "As he walked through the city, Sheldon was literally parting the huge crowd that had gathered, everybody was staring at him in amazement," recalls Rawal. "He was a bit apprehensive at first about how the local community would react to him, but that feeling quickly disappeared as people started cheering and shouting 'El Guapo!' (The Handsome One), smiling and waving from their passing cars."