Articles
Rafael Anton Irisarri
Slow Six

Albums
Another Electronic Musician
Balmorhea
Celer
City of Satellites
Cylon
Deadbeat
Kyle Bobby Dunn
Eluvium
Ent
Ido Govrin
Danny Paul Grody
Chihei Hatakeyama
Wyndel Hunt
The Internal Tulips
Keepsakes
The Knife
Kshatriy
Lali Puna
Francisco López
Mask
Melodium
Monolake
Clara Moto
Myrmyr
Nos Phillipé
Ontayso
Outputmessage
Pleq
The Q4
Schuster
Shinkei + mise_en_scene
The Sight Below
Sphere Rex
subtractiveLAD
Bjørn Svin
Tamagawa
Ten and Tracer
Trills
Trouble Books
Yellow Swans

Compilations / Mixes
An Taobh Tuathail Vol. III
Does Your Cat Know My...
Emerging Organisms 3
Moment Sound Vol. 1

EPs
Brim Liski
Ceremony
Eric Chenaux
Abe Duque
Hieroglyphic Being
Rafael Anton Irisarri
Manaboo
Monolake
Mr Cooper & Dday One
Pleq & Seque
Nigel Samways
Santos and Woodward
Simon Scott
Soundpool
Stimming, Watt & Biel
Stray Ghost
Ten and Tracer
Stuchka Vkarmanye

Ceremony: Someday
Killer Pimp

Soundpool: But It's So
Killer Pimp

Ceremony—one-time members of Virginia-based Skywave Paul Baker and John Fedowitz on vocals, guitars, basses, and lo-fi drum machines—spread two blistering tracks across two seven-inch sides on this teaser to its upcoming full-length, Rocket Fire, scheduled to appear on Killer Pimp in early 2010. Though the group name may reference New Order, Ceremony's sound might more be likened to an ultra-poppy and hyperamped spawn of The Jesus and the Mary Chain and Ride. Though your speakers may be crying for mercy when all is said and done, the tunes themselves have strong pop hearts beating at their centers. “Someday” blazes with a swarm of beehive guitars, charging drum machine beats, and monotone vocals, and anyone who doesn't play the three-minute anthem loud should be arrested. The exclusive B-side “Cracked Sun” roars as royally, with even perhaps with more thunder as Ceremony buries the song's vocals and drumming under an inferno of guitar kerang. A brief but exhilarating ride.

Though different in kind from Ceremony, Soundpool's own seven-inch impresses in its own way with the NYC quintet grounding its vocals-synths-guitars front line with a muscular rhythm base on two over-too-soon and hard-driving dreampop tunes. Opener “But It's So” stokes a pumping, “Fashion”-styled groove as it carves a path through New Wave and disco-funk territories, with Kim Field's ethereal vocals riding a euphoric wave of synthesizer wooziness and strangulated guitar rumble. On the flip side, “Makes No Sense” opens with a silky and stately synth flourish that quickly gives way to a churning electro-funk groove with Field's singing almost lost within the psychotropic swirl. Both tracks offer a snapshot of what to expect from the group's third full-length album, Mirrors In Your Eyes, also targeted for an early 2010 release on Killer Pimp. Let's hope each album packs its two- and three-minute molotov cocktails into a half-hour running time, just like The Ramones' debut did so many moons ago.

March 2010