Issue #23
New Release: Star Slinger – Sketchy EP
Having fun; making music. A lot of small producing groups approach their art with a mantra such as this, developing tracks and ultimately albums around the idea of “who cares” because it’s all about making it for the fans and for themselves. I would argue Star Slinger took this to heart and created their latest EP release, Sketchy, dabbling in a little of this and a little of that and overall showcasing a broad mix of tracks.
Track 1 is really the front runner of the 4-track release, boasting a dance-laden rhythm which isn’t too aggressive, lyrics that are just the right amount of sensual – almost whimsical – and instrumentation that is simple yet fine crafted. The track 2 and title track “Sketchy Boys In The Back of the Bus” is a bass motion, paralleling the simplicity yet plainly fun nature of developing music and lyrics. “Alpha Lead” and “Rainy Day” are less impressive, perhaps throwaway tracks which don’t match the idea behind the prior two, but decent nonetheless. But in the grand scheme of releases over the 6-year career, Sketchy EP is welcomed and appreciated.
Recommended Tracks: 1, 2
Monthly Picking:
News/Anticipating:
- At long last, the infamous Kaytranada unveils his debut album, titled 99.9% out May 6th via XL Records. The feature lineup, no doubt, is stacked including efforts from AlunaGeorge, Anderson.Paak, Little Dragon and many more. The gif series for upcoming tracks is also whimsically appealing. Nobody beats the Kay.
- Baauer making moves this year as an ‘essential’ artist to be reckoned with. His debut album (I know, he didn’t have an album out already?) received “generally favorable reviews” from popular critique site Metacritic, and received an exclusive BBC 1 Essential Mix spot.
- Anamanaguchi did something radical this late March by finally releasing their sophomore record Capsule Silence XXIV (potentially the album title, same as the game) through a viral marketing campaign. The 8-bit tinged troop known for their high-energy debut record Endless Fantasy, soundtracks for the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and the hit game Bit-Trip Runner, released the soundtrack via meta-themed, surreal-scape video game format featuring lost and found cassette tapes hidden around a modern CGI home to 3 of the band mates. The cassettes labeled the main contributors, collaborations and even a couple remixes; if you found all 30 tapes there isn’t any reward except for maybe personal gratification.
- On the same note, Anamanaguchi made an ordeal to this release by expressing major complaints toward the game developer company NHX, describing them as “landlords” and “terrible to work with.” Statements from both the band and the company have been made, but the 10 tweet rant from the band has been removed.
- After long speculation, Soundcloud has officially released it’s monetizing platform “Soundcloud Go”. The new music subscription service, costing $9.99/month features releases from the major music entities such as Sony, Warner, Merlin and Universal, as well as small labels, promising more releases exclusive to Soundcloud, ad-free service and offline play. More details here.
- The elusive Jai Paul returns, sort of, with the appearance of his new
project titled “Paul Institute.” The virtual portal leads you to a single “Landcrusin'” from A.K. Paul, Jai’s brother, but as of now nothing else is revealed about an album, the album leak back in 2013 or any statements from the artists. - SBTRKT unveiled a refreshing new project and template for premiering new material with a newsletter update on his latest project titled SAVE YOURSELF. He states this release is not an album, although the 8-track effort is a concerted effort to release a lot of music at once. More info and a beautifully simple design can be see at sbtrkt.com.
- Lastly, Lido remixes Pablo. The Life of Peder (Part One) released via youtube, featuring an 8 1/2 minute mix of TLOP’s tracks re-imagined.
No Artist Feature this month, but check back for the April issue and we’ll make up for it. ♥