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September 26 2008
FULL ALBUM DOWNLOAD: The Sight Below - No Place For Us EP
Every once in a while, something comes along that stops us dead in our tracks; the Sight Below's melancholy drift does just that. By pinning barely-there electronic beats to wisps of guitar melody, the Seattle-based producer turns ambient music into a hybrid strain of breathtakingly intimate, small-scale dance music. It’s a sound that encompasses shoegazers' obsessive tone layering, ambient's mood-setting sprawl, and techno's horizon-spanning momentum at once. Here's "Life's Fading Light," a standout track from The Sight Below's full-length debut Glider, which we're proud to be releasing later this fall.
Stream: The Sight Below – Life's Fading Light
Ghostly's also offering the No Place for Us EP as a free, three-song introduction to The Sight Below’s hopeful sonic gloom.
Download: The Sight Below – No Place for Us EP
The Sight Below makes his live audio/visual premiere at this year's Decibel Fest in Seattle. The Ghostly showcase will be held at the beautiful Baltic Room and features live A/V sets from Tycho, Lusine, and Ghostly co-conspirator Deru alongside The Sight Below's luminous debut.
09.27.2008 Ghostly Label Showcase, Seattle, WA – The Baltic Room (8pm)
September 25 2008
Stream: New 2AM/FM + Broker Dealer 12"s
Two great Spectral Sound artists recently got the 12" treatment, and we're streaming the results just for you.
From 2AM/FM – aka the duo of James T. Cotton and D'Marc Cantu – comes another thick slab of classic dance music. "Electronic Justice" may well be 2AM/FM's manifesto, a rolling vocal creeper whose laser-beam pulses ebb and flow around a synthesized mantra: "Experimental vision / This is us, who we are / This is our religion." Fitting words to chant, shout, or whisper in the flicker of a strobe at 2am, after all.
Exclusive Stream: 2AM/FM - Electric Justice
Broker/Dealer's second pressing for Spectral sells itself softly — at first. The Soft Sell EP retains the dreamy expansiveness and seamless production of Broker Dealer's album work, but places its foot firmly on the dance floor. In the title cut, reverberated hisses and whispers oscillate in and out of the depths with the metallic vibrato of copper under water. Then the handclaps drop in, the subtle bass takes hold, and "Soft Sell" unfolds into a sophisticated nighttime scene-stealer.
September 24 2008
Steam: Matthew Dear remixed + tour with Telefon Tel Aviv
Ever since Matthew Dear's "Dog Days" became a sensation in 2003 (it was the most popular single off his debut album Leave Luck to Heaven), producers have been itching to take a crack at the track. Five years later, Dear has synced up with Paris' Robsoul Recordings to release a top-notch remix collection: Dog Days- The Robsoul Remixes. DJ Sneak, playing his role of Chicago partyman to the fullest, engineers "Dog Days" into an eminently ebullient house romper. Acid creaks and squeaks fills in the spaces left by Sneak's grinning bass line, like the evil tricks of a balloon animal loose in a Moonbounce full of static electricity.
Stream: Matthew Dear – Dog Days (DJ Sneak's 420 Dog Mix)
At the heart of Matthew Dear's electro-pop opus Asa Breed lies "Pom Pom," a miniature slice of sound and vision whose rallying cry of "I've got to figure out love" is one of the record's most neck-tingling moments. For "Pom Pom"'s 10" release, Dear hands the tune over to DFA's Juan Maclean. If the hero of Dear's original "Pom Pom" stands shyly in the corner, "The Juan Maclean Mix" shoves him in a car and sends him hurtling downtown at top speed, chattering sixteenth-note high-hats in his ear as the city lights whiz by.
Stream: Matthew Dear – Pom Pom (The Juan Maclean Mix)
Dear plays a live PA under his Audion moniker at Seattle's Decibel festival before taking his three-piece Big Hands band on a headlining tour in October, where he'll be accompanied by friends Telefon Tel Aviv as openers. Do not miss this.
AUDION
09.26 Seattle, WA @ Decibel Festival - Chop Suey
MATTHEW DEAR'S BIG HANDS
10.08 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey*
10.09 Portland, OR @ Holocene*
10.10 San Fransisco, CA @ Mighty*
10.11 Los Angeles, CA @ Avalon Hollywood*
10.15 Montreal, QC @ Lambi*
10.16 Toronto, ON @ Wrongbar*
10.17 Chicago, IL @ Sonotheque*
10.18 Ann Arbor, MI @ The Blind Pig*
*w/ Telefon Tel Aviv
September 23 2008
Full Album Stream: Michna - Magic Monday
We are proud to announce the release of Magic Monday, the debut full-length from producer Adrian Michna, aka Michna. Having co-founded Miami's legendary Secret Frequency Crew, Michna's been mixing instrumental hip-hop and experimental electronic music for years; in the process, he's collaborated with an early-career Diplo, lent a production hand on Brazilian group Bonde do Role's debut on Domino/Mad Decent, and landed on URB's "Next 100" list. His talents as a multi-instrumentalist also feature prominently on the album- much of what sounds like samples are actually played by Michna himself. Magic Monday is a distillation of Michna's life and attitude- his youth, his talent, his sense of humor, his stories- and it's fun as hell.
And catch Michna in your area as he tours this fall:
10.10 Brooklyn, NY - Magic Monday release party (venue TBD)
10.16 Poughkeepsie, NY @ Vassar College
10.24 Baltimore, MD @ The Hexagon
10.25 New York City, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge (CMJ)
11.04 Gainesville, FL @ Common Grounds
11.05 Miami, FL @ PS1
11.13 Los Angeles CA@ The Purple Lounge (Standard Hotel)
11.15 Los Angeles CA @ Downtown Warehouse (after hours)
11.21 New York City, NY @ Natural History Museum
September 22 2008
Stream: School Of Seven Bells- Half Asleep 7"
On their debut single "Half Asleep", Brooklyn trio School of Seven Bells stylishly split the difference between shoegazing introspection and stargazing dream pop. "Half Asleep" starts with a compact, propulsive throb and gradually expands outward, adding layers of milky-blue synthesizer, bottomless guitar from Benjamin Curtis, and the angelic, harmonized coos of sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza. It's a perfect example of SVIIB's trademark, a potent combination of earthbound noise and weightless beauty while eerie b-side "Caldo" spins a simple melody (sung in English and Spanish) into a medieval hymn from another planet.
STREAM:
"Half Asleep" - from Half Asleep 7" / Alpinisms
"Caldo" from Half Asleep 7"
DOWNLOAD:
"Connjur" - from Alpinisms
School of Seven Bells will be hitting the road in the coming months, playing a handful of shows at New York City's CMJ festival in October and mounting a tour with Ghostly faves M83 in November:
09.27.2008 Boston, MA - Urban Outfitters Newbury
10.17.2008 Pontiac, MI - The Pike Room
10.18.2008 Kalamazoo, MI - State Theater
10.22.2008 Brooklyn, NY - Cake Shop (CMJ)
10.24.2008 New York City, NY - Levi's Fader Fort NYC (CMJ)
10.25.2008 New York City, NY - Le Poisson Rouge (CMJ)
10.28.2008 London, UK - Old Blue Last
10.29.2008 London, UK - The Social
11.11.2008 Atlanta, GA - The Earl *
11.12.2008 Charlotte, NC - Tremont Music Hall *
11.13.2008 Washington, DC - Black Cat *
11.14.2008 New York City, NY - Webster Hall *
11.15.2008 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom *
11.16.2008 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street *
11.18.2008 Boston, MA - Middle East Downstairs *
11.19.2008 Montreal, QC - Studio *
11.20.2008 Toronto, ON - Opera House *
11.21.2008 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge *
11.22.2008 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock *
11.25.2008 Seattle, WA - Neumo's *
11.26.2008 Vancouver, BC - Richard's on Richards *
11.27.2008 Portland, OR - Doug Fir *
11.28.2008 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore *
11.29.2008 Los Angeles, CA - Fonda Theatre *
* = w/ M83
August 9 2008
NEW VIDEO: TWINE - ENDORMIE feat. Allison Shaw of Cranes
The video for Twine's "Endormie"– an appropriately watery visual analogue to the song's submerged ambience – recently debuted on Pitchfork.tv. Twine's Chad Mossholder directed the clip, which features a breathtaking string of processed, abstracted imagery – light glinting off a pond, flocks of birds silhouetted against the sky, farms and beaches – whose ebbs and flows match the song's dewy guitars drop for drop. The song itself, a standout track from the duo's recent Violets LP, owes much of its otherworldly appeal to Alison Shaw (vocalist for UK cult band Cranes) whose childlike coos float above the track, giving it a human face, albeit a Ghostly one.
DOWNLOAD:
"Endormie" - from Violets
"Disconnected (Edit)" - from Violets
"Girl Song" - from Twine
July 25 2008
Ghostly At Decibel '08
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Decibel is one of our favorite electronic music festivals: a four-day blowout in Seattle's Capitol Hill featuring cutting-edge visual art and new media, panel discussions and workshops, and every kind of electronic music under the Pacific Northwestern (and Midwestern, and European) sun.
For this year's Decibel Fest, Ghostly presents live sets from four of our finest: otherworldly San Francisco downtempo producer Tycho (making his Seattle debut); LA's atmospheric breakbeat artist Deru; Seattle's own abstract rhythm-butcher Lusine; and recent Ghostly signee The Sight Below – another Seattle local – debuting his live PA of dark beats and filtered guitars. It all goes down in the Baltic Room's swank, cherry-paneled interior.
The Ghostly International Label Showcase @ Decibel Festival 2008
Featuring:
Tycho (San Francisco) : Seattle Debut Live Set
Deru (Los Angeles) : Live
Lusine (Seattle) : Live
The Sight Below (Seattle) : Debut Live Set
Saturday, September 27th
The Baltic Room
1207 Pine St.
Seattle, WA
Doors open @ 8pm / 21+
$12 presale / $15 at the door
Tickets available online at BrownPaperTickets.com
FREE DOWNLOADS:
"Straight Speak" by Deru, from Idol Tryouts 2
"Still Frame" by Lusine, from Serial Hodgpodge
"The Daydream" by Tycho, from The Daydream/The Disconnect
July 18 2008
Return of the 'Cast
We now return you to our regularly scheduled podcasts.
We treat our podcasts with reverence, enlisting our favorite Ghostly artists to create exclusive mixes that showcase the label's current obsessions.
Recent editions of GhostlyCast feature Ryan Elliott digging into Spectral Sound's deep minimal catalog; Worst Friends' Tom Croose and Ry spinning a few of their favorite Ghostly tracks both new and old; Michna's massive survey of the all-over-the-map artists on Ghostly Swim, our recent collaboration with Adult Swim; and, in honor of summer party season, an appropriately sweltering Italo-disco mix by Jeffrey Sfire. For our RCRD LBL friends we offer you first the ToddCast- a mix of rare, classic and new tracks from Todd Osborne, mixed by the man himself. Check it:
The ToddCast
GhostlyCast #9: The R Factor by Ryan Elliott (A Spectral Sound Mix)
GhostlyCast #10: Worst Friends
GhostlyCast #11: Michna's Ghostly Swim Megamix
GhostlyCast #12: Summer Mix by Jeffrey Sfire
the whole GhostlyCast series is available on iTunes.
June 18 2008
Download/Listen to new and classic tracks from Audion/Matthew Dear
Matthew Dear continues down his path of wayward techno as Audion with his new Billy Says Go single and takes a second to look back with a compilation of his early Spectral Sound singles.
'Billy Says Go' is a compelling trip down the psyche, a bumpy exotic track played by fave DJ's of ours like Ellen Allien. The track is full of eerie and unforgiving sonics, leading some to describe it as "Techno for the Aztecs."
Beginning Of The End: The Spectral Sound singles collects all of Matthew's vinyl-only work for Spectral Sound from 2001-2004 up to his breakthrough album Leave Luck To Heaven. It's a deep look into the development of this artist and a formidable batch of tracks for 4/4 music fans in general.
DOWNLOAD:
Matthew Dear - Making Out From Beginning Of The End: The Spectral Sound singles
Matthew Dear - Future Never Again From Beginning Of The End: The Spectral Sound singles
STREAM:
Audion - Billy Says Go From the Billy Says Go 12"
June 11 2008
DOWNLOAD: "Disconnected" from Twine's Violets LP
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Violets , the long awaited follow up to Twine's self-titled debut, is a foray into a haunting and expansive cinematic world. With it's mix of languid guitar work, emotive, saturated melodic textures, noises and static, field recordings and found sounds including a diverse collection of variously recorded human voices (highly emotional phone conversations between family members, an anti-war rally, CB broadcasting truck-drivers, answering machine messages as well as vocal contributions from Gail Schadt and Cranes' Alison Shaw) the effect achieved is ominous, hinting at decay and transformation. Its expansive, shadowy soundscapes have a distinctly American ambience- like the soundtrack to some bleak American Gothic cult-favorite that has yet to be filmed. But Greg Malcolm and Chad Mossholder while taking us on this tour, will do no hand-holding; it is all simply laid out before us, beauty and wreckage both.
"one of the year's most haunting releases, a collection of hallucinatory soundscapes [and] psychedelic ambience"
- Textura [full review here]
Now available as an exclusive pre-release at The Ghostly Store, and available June 17th on limited CD Digipak.
Download: Twine - Disconnected (edit) from Violets
Download: Twine - Girl Song from Twine
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