Simian Mobile Disco - Unpatterns

Simian Mobile Disco have released their latest album, Unpatterns. The album has the familiar Simian off kilter, energetic bent, but this time the bend is particularly sinister.

Unpatterns finds Simian Mobile Disco in a taut and paired down place:Listen to the narrow opening of 'A Species out of Control', which sounds like an army of trumpet playing red ants furiously marching along. Or the coldly elongated vocals on 'Your Love Ain't Fair', a breathless track backed by mock operatic strings lying beside a grimy backbeat.  Or the deceptively prickly synths on 'Interference', perhaps the most immediately danceable track on here- but still rumbling with a sense of all control slipping from tightly fisted hands.

The tracks on Unpatterns are longer than previous Simian Mobile Disco releases, and this album is notably absent on guest vocals. The album is noticeably unadorned in surface fireworks, and the joys here are in the careful textures that Simian Mobile Disco create: Raw, ranging, and accessible in the best way: Unpatterns comforts the disturbed, and disturbs the comforted.

Le Youth-Night Swimming Mix (Exclusive mix for La Nuit)

Le Youth releases a stunning Night Swimming Mix for LA disco/house party throwers, La Nuit.  The mix includes cuts from Falcon Punch, Only Children, Donna Summer, and more. Instructions for the mix: 1. To be played at level 9 2. To be played poolside 3. To be played in large speakers among friends. Absolutely no work or seriousness allowed. Swim good.

Work Drugs-Swimmer Girl

Work Drugs releases Swimmer Girl. The track sets a late afternoon meditating by the pool scene that would make Phoebe Cates jealous. It's a fine summer sedative. Check out Work Drugs's youtube channel for the Swimmer Girl video, including a NSFW version. We're looking forward to seeing Work Drugs on September 23rd at Glasslands Gallery.

Lifelike & Popular Computer - Getting High

Lifelike and Popular Computer gives us Getting High, a ripping Nu-Disco cut. The track is uncanny in its resemblance to the tops of the 80's. This kind of track is what the vocoder was made for. Turn up your personal computer and do The Clone dance; it'll be almost life-like. And buy Getting High from the Beatport link below.

Lindbergh Palace - Rollerskater EP

Lindbergh Palace's Rollerskater EP is an architecturally rich release, which is no surprise given the namesake of the band : Lindbergh Palace was taken from the hotel name in Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums, a film about a wealthy, displaced family that comes together to bittersweet degrees. Rollerskater EP is in this mold: at times heavy and warmly familiar, and at times light and limn in its alienation---both modes often stacked on top of one another like the most delicate of houses.

Sweet and bitter is an apt description for Rollerskater---the gnarly techno textures are confidently preserved, and melded into pop sensibilities. It's rare that, in the short space of an EP, a listener experiences the narrative and minute arrangement of a full length album. But Rollerskater has narrative and bold vision on full display: The EP opens with two synth heavy, shiver spine tracks ('Rollerskater', 'Legendary'), then hits a perfect middle ground in 'West Coast', an airy, splendid downbeat track that hints some of the more sparse, elegiac textures that follow. 

The album begins when : 'When I go out, after we've had a fight, I want to cry' and ends 'those days don't fade/they keep calling, calling me'.  It's a credit to Lindbergh Palace that we don't know exactly what days they wish to recall: the light, or the dark. From their impeccable handling of both shades, we'll guess both will remain. It's telling that Lindbergh Palace sings of the impossibility of days fading away immediately after a track that laments that one day you won't be recognized. In its last moments, the EP seems to offer the possibility of redemption, but a single reading won't do this EP justice. What is clear is that the Rollerskater EP will remain in the crevices of our brains for a while, gliding in and out in of all the dark and light places.

We at Scotch & Murder can't get enough of Lindbergh Palace, so we've included a remix of their track 'Days Don't Fade', done by Johan Agebjorn and Le Prix:

Daft Punk - Brainwasher(Erol Alkan Horror-House Dub)

An oldie but a goodie. Horror comes when you least expect it. So, in the middle of a flowering May, say hello to Erol Alkan's horror-house dub of Daft Punk's Brainwasher. It's the kind of blisteringly evil track that, as Salman Rushdie once said, will make your skull smile. It'll have you screaming 'the horror, the horror' as you two step. The skull smiles and the brain embalms.

Yeasayer - Henrietta

Check out a new blitzed track from Yeasayer, Henrietta. The track is really two parts---a defiant electro/ reggae-tinged groove for the opening minutes, then a down-tempo, almost choral ambient groove. It's a credit to Yeasayer that the two parts blend together seamlessly: both independent and necessary to the whole. The track is spacious enough to let you fill in the blanks: HNRTTA. Don't forget to catch Yeasayer on tour this summer.

Summer Camp-Life

Summer Camp release a track about that little thing called Life. It would not surprise the Scotch and Murder crew if this track becomes a dance hall staple. Parts prime Madonna 80's exuberance, and parts  00's techno techtonic, Life is quite an accomplished record. The track is off their upcoming EP Always, which will be released July 10th. Is it too early to ask summer to hurry up?

Reptar - Age of Consent (New Order Cover-Live From Baeble SXSW)

Check out Reptar's Live from SXSW cover of New Order's Age of Consent.  The lead singers voice can be manic and bold, a turn from the crooning of New Order's vocalist to a kind of Frank Black lead. Reptar's debut album, Body Faucet, is out now. Head over to their band web site--it's one of the most inventive we've seen. And you check out the full concert over at Music Babel.

Miike Snow - The Wave (Brodinski Remix)

The ever-consistent Brodinski releases his latest remix, a lively reworking of Miiike Snow's the Wave. Brodinski makes this wave into more of the crowd surfing kind rather than the silent break on the sea shore kind. The remix is guttural and slicing, crushing and dicing. It's about as far inland and mechanic as you can imagine. Bump one for Brodinski.

Miike Snow - The Wave (Brodinski Remix)

Twilite - I Am The Sun (Kamp! Remix)

Kamp crafts a beaming remix of Twilite's I Am The Sun. The mix is this side up on the sunny-synth side. The vocals praise the sun and the flowers, but there is a hint of Icarus in their singing. It reminds me of a story: A young girl, thinking she was ugly, thought she could be beautiful if her face was all flowers. With a little reluctance from the gardner, she was able to get dozens and dozens of his flowers, which she promptly stuffed into her ears, up her nose, and down her mouth. She ended up sneezing, spitting, and spinning the flowers out, of course, but one has to admire the audacity to be that bright and sunny.

The Hint - Plus One Minus One (Le Youth Remix)

Le Youth adds a bouncing remix to The Hint's Plus One Minus One. At one point in the record, it almost seems unclear as to whether the vocals are saying 'to save you' or 'to save (le) youth'. But Le Youth is in need of no help, clearly, zipping up and down defying ineluctable dance tempo's in this one. Highly recommended. For all our LA heads, don't miss Le Youth and the Phantom's Revenge at La Cita on May 26th. Free download in the player. 

Tina Turner-What's Love Got To Do (Zimmer Rework)

Zimmer reworks a 3 A.M soul classic, Tina Turner's What's Love Got To Do With It. The title says it is a reworking, not a remix. You don't remix Tina Turner, auto-tune her voice or baritone it down. You keep her vocals, and see what you can add for her to groove over. And Zimmer adds a lot, boosting the classic record with five times the funk and a slight tropical tinge. Free download in the player.

Caribou Heading Out On Tour With Radiohead

Caribou announces that they will be touring with alternative titans Radiohead for a series of North American tour dates. The tour begins May 29th in Mansfield, MA and ends June 16th in Toronto. In between, they'll hit New Jersey, DC, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. This is a steal for the Midwest and low East. Caribou will be playing tracks from his latest, Swim, and (possibly) something from his new music coming in 2013.

Caribou on tour with Radiohead:
May 29 Mansfield, MA Comcast Center
May 31 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
June 01 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
June 03 Washington, DC Verizon Center Arena
June 05 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
June 06 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
June 10 Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
June 11 Auburn Hills, MI The Palace of Auburn Hills
June 13 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
June 15 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
June 16 Toronto, ON Downsview Park

Flight Facilities - With You feat. Grovesnor (Official Video)

Flight Facilities release a richly animated official video for With You. The video follows a failed love affair dipped in aquamarine blue and the light dance hall touch of Flight Facilities. Rarely does a color scheme match an artist so successfully. The sonic predecessors for Flight Facilities sound like a mix between Arthur Russell and Daft Punk---an exciting combination to say the least. Pick up the single here.

Selebrities - Regret

Selebrities releases the blitzing Regret. The track is a dance-synth lemonade of a track---smartly sour and cooly enlivened. The bittersweet Regret is out just in time for your May to December. The track is from the Kitsune American Compilation, which you can pick up on  iTunes.

Trust - Sulk (Video)

Trust, an instant SMM favorite, releases a live video for their dark electronic track, Sulk. The video follows a endless array of partygoers out for one night only. It is a splendidly panoramic video. We see people dancing as if they are five beers past their limit, we see eager partygoers driving in freshly shined cars, and even two relaxing on top of an infinite hill after a great night out. You'll be seething that you weren't there, here, and everywhere. Trust performs at the Music Hall of Music Williamsburg along side Light Asylum on July 8th. Our tickets have been purchased. 

Beastie Boys - Intergalactic (SIMØNE Tribute to Adam Yauch)

SIMØNE offers up a wonderful tribute to Adam Yauch and one of the Beastie Boy's biggest hits, Intergalactic. The track has found a worthy partner in SIMØNE's remix.The mix is a funky and inspired collage of sound that the endlessly inventive Beastie Boys would have appreciated. It's difficult to put into words how futuristic Intergalactic sounded when it came out, and how ahead of its time it still sounds.  SIMØNE has been granted a license to ill.

Destroyer Announces North American Tour

Destroyer announces an extensive North American tour (dates below). Kicking off in Seattle on June 3rd, Dan Bejar and his band will tour through the month, ending their tour on June 25th in Minneapolis. Post-rock / indie rock should come out and give Bejar's enigmatic lyrics in that radical of his a listen.  Just remember it's not a war until someone loses an eye. Oh, and they didn't forget New York. Mark your calendar for Destroyer at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on June 18th. We'll be seeing you. Purchase Purchase tickets to see Destroyer in your city. 

Destroyer Tour Dates
Jun 03 Seattle WA - The Showbox
Jun 04 Portland OR - Aladdin Theatre
Jun 05 San Francisco CA - The Fillmore
Jun 06 Los Angeles CA - El Rey Theatre
Jun 07 Phoenix AZ - The Crescent Ballroom
Jun 08 Albuquerque NM - Launchpad
Jun 09 Denver CO - The Bluedbird Theatre
Jun 10 Lawrence KS - The Granada
Jun 11 Iowa City IA - The Blue Moon Tap House
Jun 13 Milwaukee WI - Turner Hall
Jun 14 Grand Rapids MI - The Ladies Literary Club
Jun 15 Cleveland OH - Beachland Ballroom
Jun 16 Washington DC - 930 Club
Jun 17 Philadelphia PA - Union Transfer
Jun 18 Brooklyn NY - Brooklyn Masonic Temple
June 19: New York NY - Le Poisson Rouge
Jun 20 Boston MA - Paradise
Jun 21 Montreal QC - Rialto Theatre
Jun 23 Toronto ON - The Opera House
Jun 24 Chicago IL - Metro
Jun 25 Minneapolis MN - Cedar Cultural Center

Julia Stone - It's All Okay (Active Child Remix)

Julia Stone's "It's All Okay" gets a loving remix from Active Child. Julia Stone's vocals are a mix of the spritely Joanna Newsom and the dark side of the Cocteau Twins. Active Child knows just what to do with the instrumental: Make it icy and ethereal. We hope these two meet up again in the future, and we know we will be hearing a lot more from Julia Stone very soon: her upcoming album, By the Horns, is out May 29th.

2:54 - Creeping

2:54 of creeping rarely sounded good, but don't let the title of 2:54's newest track skeeve you out. Creeping, an expertly realized mix of gutter rock and electronic, is everything inviting. The track recalls some of the best of 90's icons like Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth, with a decidedly post-noughties cautious optimism. A highly recommended cut. Creeping is set to be released on June 18th off Fiction Records.

Kris Menace & the KiKi Twins-We Are (Ren Riz remix)

Ren Riz remixes Kris Menace & The KiKi Twins' We Are. The remix is a slow burner.  A heavy, beautiful piano threads through the track, from We Are's sparse elegiac opening notes to its funk house vocal breakouts. Whereas the vocals on the original were the climax, here perhaps they are the bottoming out. A lonely singer, the last one left in the club at 4:47 A.M, reels out her last lines behind the sober instrumental.

Duke Dumont - For Club Play Only Vol. 1

Duke Dumont releases his first EP for Turbo Recordings. The released song, Street Walker, is an infectious mix of soul and electronic. No surprise that it samples a neo soul classic, D'Angelo's "Devil's Pie". We eagerly await more from Duke Dumont. Fuck the slice, we want the pie.

Chris Malinchak-Ironbound EP

Chris Malinchak releases his Ironbound EP. The five song EP is tautly arranged and imaginative release. Ironbound is a work truly worth of 'Extended Play' label it bears. There's something here for everyone: Compare the sun funk of opener 'There I Was (Again)' to the dark house of 'Razor 2.0', for one example. Buy the set on Beatport.

Teen Daze - What You Feel

Teen Daze release What You Feel. The track is a b-side from "All of us, Together", and it's an A-plus cut. What You Feel is a breezy 'house-disco' track. It feels exceptionally refreshing in its accomplished joining of the two genres that grow increasingly distant from one another. This is a big step from an act that has proven that it can inhabit and celebrate nearly any sound.

Zombie Zombie - Rocket n 9 (Gesaffelstein Remix)

Take a listen to this rip of Gesaffelstein's remix of Zombie Zombie's ripping Rocket n9.  The track is a treat for zombies, zebras, and just about anything and everything else. Gesaffelstein's rich mix of electronic history and contemporary innovation should come as no surprise. He is 576 years old, after all, according to Brodinski. He's been doing this a while. The remix is out soon on Versatile.

Scotch and Murder The Playlists: A Supreme Set

Every now and then we put together a playlist of tracks that is so out of this world we feel obligated to share it with you. This is the latest of those playlists. A Supreme Set features some of our most recent favorite tracks (full track list below). To get the full set of MP3s e-mailed to you simply sign up to our mailing list. Get on their soon as the list will only be sent out at midnight tonight. We will only be use your your address to send you awesome playlists. Nothing more, nothing less. 

A SUPREME SET from Scotch_and_Murder on 8tracks.

TRACK LIST:

Purity Ring - Obedear 

Twin Shadow - Five Seconds 

Work Drugs - Coral Gables

Breakbot - Programme 

Moon Boots - Got Somebody 

Cadillac - Too Long (Daft Punk Cover)

Sébastien Tellier - Cochon Ville (The Magician Remix) 

Active Child - Hanging On (GRVRBBRS Remix) 

Tears For Fears - Shout (SIMØNE Remix) 

Alexander Holland - City Full of Lights (Gigamesh Remix) 

Foster The People - Don't Stop (Oliver Remix)

Final DJs - F.A.R.E.W.E.L.L 

Zambri - Hundered Hearts 

R.I.P Adam "MCA" Yauch

It is with a heavy heart we write about the passing of Adam Yauch, aka MCA, the founding member of the Beastie Boys. To say the head of the trio of brooklyn based hooligans was influential to our taste and hunger for music would be an understatement. Without out any reservation we can say the Beasties were one of the first bands we ever fell head over heels for. There was always something so supremely unique about their sound, charisma and charm. You couldnt help but love them. And it all wouldnt have been possible without the one and only MCA.

Read more about Adam Yauch on the Official Beastie Boys site.  

Get More: Beastie Boys, Make Some Noise, Music, More Music Videos

Aeroplane April 2012 Mix

Aeroplane's April mix is here. Never on schedule, but always on time. The tape includes killer tracks from artists like Punks Jump Up, Finnebassen, Attar, and more. It's fitting that the tape ends on a track with a title Past Present. The Mix Tape has the label of April, but it's timeless.

Indeep - Last Night DJ Saved (SIMØNE Remix)

Indeep gets a helping hand from SIMØNE in their Last Night Dj Saved.... cut. This remix is a marvel of deep funk/synth wave. Gladys Knight & The Pips in Studio 54. Compared to the original classic record, this mix has a more contemporary use of carefully crushed drums and electronic adeptness. A dj can still save your life, for a price.

Le Youth - Dance With Me

Le Youth releases Dance Sith Me. The track skillfully re-imagines 90's titans like TLC and Jermaine Dupri. It's fascinating that this electro-sun track takes samples from TLC's 'No Scrubs'. It is a song all about rejecting a scrub and, by extension, well, not dancing with them. But Dance With Me is so infectious that even scrubs will get some love on the dance floor in Le Youth's cut. If you love the track and could use a dub step version, as we did, head over to the Le You Facebook Page.

Ditt Inre - Manljus

Stockholm duo Ditt Inre release Manjilus. The track is a rush of sensations. It begins with a sounds like a swell of voices, all scurrying underneath the instrumental, before one baritone voice rises above the rest and mournfully guides the rest of the track. It's pop with power and powder, a deep joy that bends backward on itself and will leave you seeing redwop. Ditt Inre's En Varld I Brand EP is due out May 29th on Cascine.

The New Division-Violent (Future Unlimited Remix)

The New Division's Violent gets a remix from Future Unlimited. Despite it's title, the remix is unmistakably gorgeous. The synths swim to a backstroke pace, the vocals are far off and a comforting overseer. Everything is lovely. It may be Violent, but it's violence in violet.

Violens - True [Album Review] + All Night Low [Video]

As the Violens kick off their Spring Tour (dates below), we thought we'd give you a little look into their upcoming album True. Listening to Violens' True it may come as no surprise that much of it was recorded between gigs—that indeterminate haze between the bright, bus-size bulbs of showtime, and the small, faded night lights of tour bunk beds . 'Dreamy' is a word that gets thrown around a lot when discussing Violens, but it seems like a deferred word to use: Violens takes bands like Sonic Youth, Pale Saints, and Cocteau Twins as inspiration, but True finds them hitting their own groove, able to catch whatever hits their ear, take it in, and bring out a refreshing spin. True is more desaturated LP. The LP is still thoroughly 'dreamlike' for ardent Violens fans, but the LP is more urgent. If someone is dreaming to the menacing sounds on interlude 'Lavender Forces' and reverb rocker 'All Night Low', they are likely dreaming nothing you want to know about.

On 'Every Melting Degree', the singer intones "When did you switch accelerated states"? The listener feels the switches on True, the switches from light to dark, Beach Boys to Bauhaus, but the transitions are seamless. 'Lucent Caries', the other interlude, is a superb example: The track begins as a gothic folk kind of melody. The guitar plucks create a swirling, singular scene. But only moments later, the guitar plucks begin to recede, and we hear an incoming drone. Faint echoes at first, but then we drop into a complete drone textured treasure that is a fitting companion to 'Lavender Forces'. The connections between tracks feel intuitive and inspired. True is a true album: Each song has its own vitality, but none feel as if they could exist without the others, and without the exact order they were placed in.

In stretching their sonic and thematic outreach, Violens have come closer than ever to home. If life's arc is made up of the things that happen the most, and a dream life is made up of the most that can happen, Violens succeed in finding a rich space—and, dare I say, possibility of life—between the two. True is out May 15th on Slumberland Records. Go with the vinyl when you pick up True. Violens' own Jorge Elbrecht has heard the test version, and it is 'far superior'. Believe him.


Preorder Violens' True on directly from Sumberland Records.

 

Violens Spring Tour Dates: 

5/03/2012		Philadelphia, PA		Johnny Brenda's w/Lower Dens
5/04/2012		Washington, DC		Rock & Roll Hotel w/Lower Dens
5/05/2012		Baltimore, MD		Otto Bar w/ Lower Dens
5/16/2012		New York, NY		Le Poisson Rouge (Album Release Event)
5/31/2012		San Francisco, CA		Cal Academy of Science with Weekend *
6/03/2012		Los Angeles, CA		Part Time Punks at The Echo
6/14/2012		Toronto, ON		Horseshoe Tavern (NXNE)

Twin Shadow - Five Seconds

Twin Shadow releases a lean and deliciously splenetic cut from his upcoming album, Confess. In an interview with Stereogum, Twin Shadow states that the upcoming album will still focus on synthesizers, and the rhythm section will be the biggest difference. The sounds will depend less on drum machines, and more on sampled acoustic drums. Five Seconds finds Twin Shadow taking a strong next step from his last album Forget, and forging ahead with this frenetic New-Wavey track. We can't wait for Confess.

Blood Orange - Champagne Coast (Video)

Blood Orange release a video for Champagne Coast. The video takes a real dip into the uncanny valley. It looks like a fireworked combination of The Sims and the vortex of a Ryan Trecartin film. The song itself is a piece of energetic indie pop, plum full of influences from around the globe. Perhaps the only way to fully encapsulate them all was to visualize the song playing in an alternate reality.

Tennis - My Better Self (Official Music Video)

Tennis shows us their official music video for My Better Self. The song is a wondrous, poppy track typical of Tennis, and it's appropriate that the video finds the band performing in an maroon-tinged  bar worthy of a Twin Peaks set. Things get surreal: an old man, out for a late afternoon drink, sees visions of men run across his eyes. The serene lead singer of Tennis breaks into a b-girl dance routine (complete with back up dancers). Splendidly weird. Get their new album, Young and Old, over at iTunes.

Deadmau5 - Superliminal

Deadmau5 drops a 'superliminal' track. The title could be seen as a contradiction. How can something be super barely perceptible? But that's the strength of the track: power in restraint, balance in excess. The track is an intriguing rough draft---brimming with moments of dark, cascading electro brilliance that makes up eagerly await the final product. Deadmau5 comments that the track still 'needs some bells n whistles n edits and filterwork and some other crap. But, this should do the horde for now.

Tears for Fears - Head Over Heels (Virgin Magnetic Material Remix)

Virgin Magnetic Materials brings us a wonderfully contemporary remix of classic Tears for Fears cut, 'Head Over Heels'. The instrumental here is a nudisco flourish, of the 22nd century sort. From Virgin Magnetic Materials to 'Ye, Tears For Fears has proven a remarkable source material for some of the most interesting tracks we have today. This Head Over Heels may be the best re-imagining of the shining bunch. Enjoy.

Busy P Hard Miami 2012 Mix

Busy P releases a raucous, live mix tape recorded straight from Grand Central. Grand Central on the sunny side of Miami, not the streets of New York. Quite possibly our favorite set from our weekend at WMC. The mix includes live spins and remixes of cuts from titans like Justice,  Aphex Twin, and Kavinsky. Rarely is an hour long mix tape free from some lulls, but it's safe to say all the high high's are here and roll right into the next. Set aside at least hours for this tape.

Purity Ring - Obedear (Video)

Purity Ring releases a video for their lead single, Obedear. The video is an assemblage of images that slowly cohere into one. The visual piecemeal technique is refreshing, and splendidly in fitting with the intricately electro-bopping single. Things build up to a climax, and if the sight of blood makes you squeamish, end this one early. You'll be keeping the melody for a long time, anyway. Purity Ring's new album, Shrines, is out July 24th on 4AD.