The Underground of Happiness

Beautiful new release from Julianna Barwick , who is one of our favourite singers/artists around here. Her fantastic album The magic place came out earlier in the year, also on Asthmatic Kitty - this was the UOH verdict at the time. Julianna Barwick - The magic place (Asthmatic Kitty) From the opening strains of Envelop , with multiple wordless, heavily treated vocal parts creating texture as well as melody, you know you're in the presence of something special here. By the end of that track, as a distressed piano line gradually swamps the vocals, a haunting, heartrending mood has taken over from the initial bliss. The title track is a choral symphony which slowly disintegrates into a lone soprano. Cloak sounds for all the world like a line from a church hymn sampled and looped, until its layers gather a power not witnessed in any church I've ever been in. White flag creates the effect of standing at the mid-point of three competing choirs, which somehow manage to complemen...

New music from Mint Julep , the husband and wife duo Keith and Hollie Kenniff , based in Portland, Oregon . It's a beautiful slice of shoegazey electro-pop, with a suitably dreamy female vocal, as the opening line confirms. "I lie awake dreaming of landscapes in the rain" The mid-section breakdown also reminds me a bit of OMD - just another reason to love it. You can download it for free here. Mint Julep - Aviary - FREE DOWNLOAD by Keith Kenniff - Helios The video, made by the Berlin-based A Nice Idea Every Day people , succeeds in conveying the ennui of youth, along with an undercurrent of something slightly disorientating (it could be the interesting shaking camera effect). mint julep »aviary« from a nice idea every day on Vimeo . It's taken from their upcoming new album, Save your season , which is due out in November through Village Green . There's also a Mogwai remix of this song, which will be available shortly - more about that anon.

Speaking of labels we love, here's another one. Next month, Manchester's Front & Follow release a series of remixes by BLK w/BEAR (pronounced black with bear , based in Washington D.C.) of a previous F&F release by Yonokiero , Blue apples . I haven't heard the original, but the re-workings are fascinating miniature soundworlds. Casey Jnr , for example, features a clarinet prominently above an oscillating cello loop. Sumimasen creates a slow, subterranean atmosphere with static noise, an electronic hum and what sounds like morse code sampled, with a haunting, melancholy female vocal. Listen here. BLK w/BEAR - Sorry about your (remixes) by frontandfollow In addition, the band's live video mixer Renee Shaw has made a film to accompany Casey Jnr . It's suitably dreamlike with melting frames and multiple superimpositions. There's also a giant rabbit and a ferris wheel involved. It's intriguing and I like it a lot.