The music of Los Angeles singer/producer Will Wiesenfield, who records under the name Baths, can best be described as celestial pop, with widespread influences from hip hop to electronica and glitch. His 2010 debut full length, Cerulean, made waves asan ethereal, heavily layered record full of playfully experimental sounds that ended up several end-of-year lists including Pitchfork and the AV Club. Contrasting the nature of the record that was both thematically and sonically reflective of its' namesake (the shade of blue used to describe the sky), Wiesenfield chose to explore darker themes on his latest LP, Obsidian. Turning to sources like Dante's Inferno and research into the Dark Ages,the album is a dark, yet shimmering reflection on a period of illness that left the artist bedridden for several months, unable to record.
Tonight at the Tralf, Baths will be performing along with fellow LA producer and Body High label co-founder Jerome LOL, whose lush, percussive tracks have been noted for their organic sound. Check out his latest track, "What Now," featured on the excellent Body High fall tour compilation. Tickets are $12 advance, $15 at the door. Doors 7pm. Show starts at 8pm.
As of late, the Tralf has been booking some fresh and interesting acts. With recent and upcoming shows for Wild Nothing, Parquet Courts, DIIV, and others, the revitalized downtown venue has been a hotbed of up and coming national acts thanks to ESI Events. These up and comers have, historically, been something Buffaloians usually had to make the drive to Toronto to see. ESI's latest land is Baths, the project of California electronic musician Will Wiesenfold. Baths' latest release, the dark Obsidian, has been getting rave reviews, and lucky for us, we will get the chance to see him live on Tuesday, October 1st. Tickets will go on this Friday, July 12th, at noon for $12 advance/$15 day of.
With summer just around the corner, May always brings a special influx of new music that will decidedly be anthems of the solstice; music to cook out, run, swim, play frisbee, and wake up hung over to.
10. Small Black - Limits of Desire
Post-Chillwavers Small Black have finally given us a fresh studio record with Limits of Desire, due out May 13 via Jagjaguwar. The latest single “Free At Dawn” lends itself to poppier melodies, as lead singer Ryan Heyner's vocals seem a lot crisper, but maintains its poise, setting itself up for moonlit replays. The album artwork is especially striking as a nude woman and man are depicted hugging on opposite sides of a ladder, which a press release says represents “a moving depiction of connectivity and interaction in the 21st century and it serves as a sort of source code for the record”. Listen to “Free At Dawn” below:
9. Baths - Obsidian
Will Wiesenfeld aka Baths will follow-up his much adored 2010 LP Cerulean with Obsidian, due out May 28 via Anticon. The 24-year-old producer/songwriter continues in his smooth and bubbly fashion of beatmaking on the latest track “Miasma Sky,” which is equal parts low-end bass and ethereal vocals from Wiesenfeld. Listen to the track below:
8. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Yeah, a lot of you are going to fucking hate me for putting Daft Punk at the eight spot, but with all these secretive shenanigans and a half-decent single featuring Pharrell (who I mildly like, but lost all hope for when he decided to sing "Get Lucky" three times in a row in Brooklyn a few weeks ago), I really doubt this album will live up to all of its outrageous, swooning hype that internet servers are buckling under. In all seriousness, I am pretty stoked on Random Access Memories (due out on the 21st via Columbia), and I also really do love the fact that Daft Punk are using their uncommunicative gestures and fame to make the event of an album release so relevant and exciting, 'cause let's face it, we're all getting a little sick of being able to stream an album a month before it comes out. What's the point right? Listen to "Get Lucky" below:
7. Alex Bleeker and the Freaks - How Far Away
When we talked to Real Estate bassist Alex Bleeker at last year’s Pitchfork Festival in Chicago, the songwriter talked about his forthcoming album with his band of Freaks and his intense fondness (obsession) for everything Neal Young and Crazy Horse. And now that his sophomore album How Far Away is due out on the 28th, it's easy to see how that was all manifested, especially on “Don’t Look Down,” which you can hear below:
6. Mikal Cronin - MCII
Garage rocker Mikal Cronin is back with his superb sophomore record MCII, which is out now via Merge. The Ty Segall bandmate and recent BFA graduate has expanded his outreach a bit on the new record, adding a few instrumental bells and whistles while maintaining his jangle-rock roots. “Weight” is an especially cheery tune with plunky piano lines and a fresh chorus with guitars ablaze. Listen below:
5. Savages - Silence Yourself
“Your head is spinning faster on the end of your spine until you have no face at all, and yet if the world would shut up even for a while perhaps we would start hearing the distant revue of an angry young tune, and recompose ourselves.” This adrenaline-inducing line is how frontwoman of London outfit Savages Jehnny Beth intros “Shut Up”, a reeling blend of distorted guitar riffs and enticingly vivid bass lines. Their debut album Silence Yourself is impressively expansive, and wields a ‘tude straight out of the 70s NYC punk scene. Silence Yourself is available here. Watch the video for “Shut Up” below:
4. Majical Cloudz - Impersonator
Majical Cloudz is certainly one of the biggest surprises of the last year. The Grimes collaborator and fellow Montreal native put out his Turns Turns TurnsEP back in December, and has since been blowing up. The track “Childhood’s End” is one dark and vivid piece of songwriting. Devon Walsh’s deep croon is haunting amid chilling synth lines and when it’s put to this striking black and white video below it becomes something else entirely. Impersonator is due out 5/21 via Matador.
3. The National - Trouble Will Find Me
The sixth album from the Brooklyn indie rockers The National is due out May 20 and 21, and the latest single off the record “Demons” is the self-assured kick we’ve been looking for, even as 2010’s High Violet can still be seen in the rearview. The 14-track record comes amid an exciting time for the band, who were recently the subjects of a Tribeca Film Festival premiere that frontman Matt Beringer’s younger brother shot on tour with the group. Once the album is released later this month, The National will also embark on an extensive world tour, which you can see here. Watch the video for “Demons” below:
2. Deerhunter - Monomania
Fact: Bradford Cox cannot make a bad record. Whether he’s releasing his ever-fluctuating works with his Deerhunter pals, or blowing minds under his Atlas Sound moniker (I highly recommend 2011’s Parallax), the man is nothing but prolific. Not only is Cox stretching his stylistic boundaries into harsher punk territory on Monomania(out now via 4AD), he continues to fuck shit up in an increasingly self-aware and ingenuous indie culture that he claims is bastardizing its daring punk ancestors. Yeah, the man might be a tad insane, but he bleeds genius, and Monomania is something magical. Listen to the title track below:
1. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
What can we say about NYC quartet Vampire Weekend that hasn’t already been said? While they’re widely treasured in the indie tweeosphere, they’ve also accrued the naysayers due to their J Crew-saturated, Upper East Side prep and privilege, but there’s no arguing against the fact that, like Deerhunter (and totally unlike Deerhunter), they’re consistent. Ezra Koenig and company have compiled two incredible albums in the classic debut self-titled LP and 2010’s Contra and with tracks like “Ya Hey” and “Step” already stuck in my head, I honestly don’t think their sophomore effort Modern Vampires of the City will disappoint. The album is due out May 14, but you can stream and pre-order it now over at iTunes. Watch the lyric video for “Ya Hey” below:
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