MillionYoung - Calrissian

The first cut off of MillionYoung's latest album, Atmospheric Beast Replicants, unfolds with appetizing tonal uncertainty. "Calrissian" flirts with nostalgic dream-pop vocals, drowned by a shower of snowy bells like christmas has come early. But not the cozy living room kind of christmas, this is more like walking out in the cold when no one else is. And it feels right at home.

mp3: MillionYoung - Calrissian

In contrast, check out MillionYoung's sun-heavy EP SunnDreamm which can be downloaded for free.

James Blake - Limit To Your Love (Feist cover)

No one is getting as much love around the indie-net right now as much as James Blake; and it's not without reason. There aren't many electronic artists that take advantage of silence like Blake does, echoing the old Debussy saying "music is the space between the notes". It couldn't be more true: on this Feist cover, as well as other recently released tracks, Blake has proven a new formula with soft-spoken electronics and a feel for the life and death of each note. 

mp3: James Blake - Limit To Your Love (Feist cover)

Antony and The Johnsons - The Spirit Was Gone

Antony Hegarty's profound admiration for Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno is by no means a secret. Ohno was featured on the cover of his third studio album and now the video for "The Spirt Was Gone" pays tribute to this theatrical icon. Fitting so well with the Ohno's expression and character, it would be no surprise that the music is directly influenced by this subtle, fragile dancer. A gracefully blossoming song that crumbles before full bloom.

Gorillaz - Doncamatic (All Played Out) [Feat. Daley]

Gorillaz haven't finished their Escape To Plastic Beach world tour yet and they've already cooked up a new single. "Doncamatic" has all the sounds that belong in the Plastic Beach album but its song-aware lyrics don't quite fit with the overall theme of the album. Daley's electro-smooth vocals lead this synth-heavy song to a dancey, brain worm chorus making this a sweet tune that's also radio-friendly.

Cloudy Busey - Pound Your Town To Hell

What stories will the kids of today tell their grandchildren? They've heard about the glory days of their own grandparents time and time again but can't seem to live up to it. Well, according to Cloudy Busey, if you're not in a real war just start one for no good reason; besides making an impact that is. In "Pound Your Town To Hell", drums and strings march forcefully like an army while twinkling glocks and marimbas prance around playfully. They cause a lot of damage, but they're just kidding around. Glory isn't about reality anyway.

mp3: Cloudy Busey: Pound Your Town To Hell

Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand

Just from looking at the title, this is undoubtedly a ridiculous premise for a song with any substance whatsoever. But after all, this is Duck Sauce, who cares about substance?! This is about having a good time (with Barbra Streisand apparently, don't try too hard to visualize it). Unlike like the excessively nightclub friendly original mix, the video edit has enough quirks and laughs to be considered fun. Even Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig is "OooOOo"ing along on webcam! 

A Classic Education - I Lost Time

Italian pop-rock sextet, A Classic Education, can certainly express the feeling of time slipping away, but they're not sure how they feel about it. The video depicts grainy stock footage of busy afternoon streets from the early 20th century double exposed with people moving so slow they seem still. And it feels like the film reel will catch fire any moment now and fall apart. He sings "So happily suspend your time, now join my whole seconds of blank, it's all of I've got". Kinda sums up the love-hate relationship with passing time and wasted days, doesn't it? Also...

mp3: A Classic Education: Gone To Sea

Band leader Jonathan Clancy (a.k.a. His Clancyness) also has some chilled out bedroom-quality tracks of his own. Here's a taste...

mp3: His Clancyness: Summer Majestic

El Guincho - Bombay [NSFW]

High-speed catapult cassette, cheat notes on inner thighs, rifle-man canon bomb, making out with a statue, witch-dude on skates, animal costume theatre, a cock in bed, matchstick crow, egg shampoo, rocket bicycle, what lives under your bed, finger penis fake-out, mustached baghead on the keys, braids intertwined, shooting a giant ass panda... oh! and a whole lot of nudity. This is "Bombay".

mp3: El Guincho - Bombay

Hard Mix - Had

There's a sense of longing and cool sorrow to "Had"; and this goes for most of the tracks Hard Mix has been putting out these past few months. He's still new, but his sound is already found. Hip-hop beats carry repeating hollow melodies while random cut-up vocal samples are sprinkled about. The results are straightforward yet truly compelling.

mp3: Hard Mix: Had

Also...

mp3: Hard Mix: Memories

mp3: Hard Mix: The Chill World (Mixtape, 53mb)

Flying Lotus - MmmHmm [Feat. Thundercat]

Flying Lotus's LP, Cosmogramma, is a glitchy-soulful-jazzy electronic milkshake... with a thick whip cream layer of his signature sound, and that's never a bad thing. "MmmHmm" is one of the more soulful tracks on that album with musical elements that don't seem to fit together paper but are seamlessly blended with Fly Lo's masterful production.