Thom Cummings

Get excited.

Animal Collective are back with a new 7inch single titled ‘Honeycomb / Gotham’ featuring two brand new songs. The ‘Honeycomb / Gotham’ digital bundle is available digitally now at http://smarturl.it/AC_Honeycomb - and the physical 7inch is available to pre-order now on the Domino Store with instant MP3 gratification of both tracks. Pre-order the single at http://www.dominorecordco.com/honeycomb. The 7inch will be available via Domino on the 26th of June and will also be available in stores later this summer.

Visit: http://www.myanimalhome.net

The newest Hot Chip track is a shifting classic house track that takes a few definite stages in building up to a typically Hot Chip-ian climax.  Key changes, Joe Goddard’s wispy voice and the ever-improving production values on this make it a slick preview of the new album ‘In Our Heads’ (coming out 11th June) although it maybe takes a couple of spins to get into and love.  

More info here: http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/albums/02-03-12/in-our-heads/

Lovely new teaser for the upcoming Dirty Projectors album, a follow-up to the epic Bitte Orca. This track, Gun Has No Trigger, has only three elements really: an erratic but driving drum rhythm, Angel and Amber’s heavenly backing vocals and David Longstreth’s wild musings. So it all fits together quite nicely. Quite nicely indeed.

(only marginally) more over on http://www.dirtyprojectors.net/

Every Summer, Every Spring by GASHCAT

Holy ruddy bejesus. Two tracks into this album and I’m enraptured. The Neutral Milk Hotel comparison is unavoidable but GASHCAT deserves praise in their own right. If you’re a Mangum man, you have to check out this album.  Buy it from their bandcamp here.

shared from exfm.  

An, as always, transcendental new track from Sigur Rós - taken from the forthcoming album, valtari, which will be released in late May.

Any Little Way by The Explorer’s Club

via glofi:

Any Little Way by The Explorer’s Club

This is one of my favorite tracks from The Explorer’s Club’s new LP, Grand Hotel.  Not unlike the High Llamas, these guys take mad cues from the Wilsons.  At barely a minute, this track reminds me of the short-form Beach Boys tracks like “Meant For You”.

Loving this track from Canadian almost-all girl group, Chic Gamine.  With four equally skilled vocalists and a tight rhythm section they create a fantastic new-soul sound and on Closer they just draw you right in. 

What Goes Up - a HotSpotMixtape.

New-tones.  (Part 1 of 2).

Friends are one of the hotter post-SXSW acts (allegedly).  On I’m His Girl you have a sweet tune, ready to buy over here: http://luckynumber.bandcamp.com/album/im-his-girl

Medicine is the second track on ‘The Wild Youth’ EP which came out last autumn by Daughter, the moniker of Elena Tonra whose beautiful, ethereal voice lights up this track.  

You can buy the EP here: ohdaughter.bandcamp.com

Bright Moments is basically Kelly Pratt, a multi-instrumentalist who has played with Beirut, Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem.  He is primarily a hornster (if that is the technical term) as a touring musician but in his solo work he’s managed to create a dense and interesting sound that’s as grandiose as any of his contemporaries.  The full album, Natives, is available already and I highly suggest you pick up a copy, if you have the means.  

I may or may not be in love with this one song.  

Gorgeous new song and video from Lightships.  If this is the first, I can’t wait for more…

(via Lightships – new project from Teenage Fanclub’s Gerard Love | Eardrums Music)

Quite the stellar combination - James Murphy, Andre 3000 and Damon Albarn - and quite the stellar track.  This Gorillaz release came out a week or so back (via Converse?) but has been burning for a while.  The video is also well worth checking out.  Take a look at that and more over on http://play.converse.com/blog/2012/02/23/doyathing/.

One day in real life is about 2.5 years in blog years but, better late than never, here is the new Beach House track, entitled Myth.  It doesn’t vary from their traditional sound too much so we know what to expect with Bloom, their upcoming album, in March.  But it does sound strong, lush and a perfect pre-cursor to a muggy summer.  

I’ve been a big fan of Jim White ever since 2004’s Drill a Hole in That Substrate and Tell Me What You See. His new album reaches elements of those heights and nowhere is that better displayed than Infinite Mind - a joyous tussle between traditional Americana and Odelay-ear Beck-sperimentation.

Eugene McGuinness - Lion

Eugene himself describes his new single as “the biggest ‘fuck off’ my soul could muster”.  Sure, it sounds kinda angry but the surf rock inspiration just makes it sound fun.  Maybe anger can be fun.  

Taken from his new album, due out soon, you can download it for free here.

Porcelain Raft - Put Me To Sleep

Really digging the new Porcelain Raft record.  It’s hazy, ethereal sound could’ve made it class of summer 2010 but it seems to work just perfectly in a 2012 just beginning to figure itself out….  Here’s one of the best cuts from that record.  They’re touring too. 

New Wild Nothing EP is dropping very soon. Monday in fact.  Get a sneak preview in this track, Nothing.

via yvynyl

In the pantheon of inventions whose ridiculousness in appearance is matched only by their utility and fun, the Horn Bike must be near the top of the list.  

If you bike and you have the means, I highly recommend it.

Every Summer, Every Spring by GASHCAT

Holy ruddy bejesus. Two tracks into this album and I’m enraptured. The Neutral Milk Hotel comparison is unavoidable but GASHCAT deserves praise in their own right. If you’re a Mangum man, you have to check out this album.  Buy it from their bandcamp here.

shared from exfm

soundcloud:

Summer’s officially arrived in Berlin.

Summer’s also the best time to be in Berlin. Maybe summer for you also is the time to take a next step in your career. Here’s a run-down of our current openings. If you’re up for a new challenge and want to live in the best city in Europe, we can’t wait to hear from you:

• Back-end developers
• Software Architect
• Copywriter
• Recruiter
• Communications Channel Manager
• VP of Product
• Marketing Manager Premium

There’s a bunch more where these came from. Make sure to open this page in a new tab and take a peek at your potential new job over the weekend.

Oh and thanks for reblogging this post or forwarding it to your friends.

PS: yup, that’s our roof terrace. BBQ season starting in 3, 2, 1…

Join us.

Quiet Company - It’s Better To Spend Money Like There’s No Tomorrow Than Spend Tonight Like Threre’s No Money

I just like the song title for this really.

Twitshift (a service which niftily reminds you of all the witty and brilliant things you said in shortform n years ago) just reminded me of this article which I wrote for The Next Web.  

Two years ago today I blogged about Extension.fm, then a newly launched Chrome extension, still in its beta.  I loved it enough then to push for the post and at the time said: 

If you’re an obsessive music fan then Extension.fm might just be the add-on that convinces you to finally shift over to Google Chrome.

And these days I still love it - one of my favourite places for music discovery.  It’s incredible to see how the product and the team has evolved over the last two years and I continue to be impressed with what Dan, Marshall, Kirk and team do. 

I think this is probably the best SoundCloud integration ever.  

(via Turn Your Baby’s Cry Into an IPhone Case - Businessweek)

Saving endangered languages - a fascinating project by National Geographic

iampentameter:

well everyone’s always talking about their love of pasta and their love of chocolate… makes sense… i guess

Mmmm…. first of many famous Germanic-Italian cross-over dishes.

A massive @SoundCloud waveform and a very happy @kweise in the latest Fast Company (Taken with Instagram at SoundCloud HQ Beta)

curiositycounts:

Stone Is Not Cold – iconic Czech-born illustrator Miroslav Šašek brings famous sculptures to life in irreverent everyday vignettes in this lovely vintage children’s book circa 1961.

hotspotmusic:

I Travelled A Long Way is the latest HotSpotMixtape.  I’ve been cooking it up for the past few weeks and it’s really more of a journey than a mix. Not all that you hear is new, but it is all part of the ride.  Let me know what you think! 

Sure thing Thom.  I think it’s one of the best HotSpotMixtapes.

Fantastic photo collection of the winter weather from The Atlantic.

hotspotmusic:

I heard this at the top of the latest All Songs Considered podcast and knew I had to instantly track it down and reblog it.  It is one of the most fun and unique tracks I’ve heard in a long time - a completely bonkers and yet utterly charming hip-hop song inspired by showtunes from a bygone era, telling the story of a man, perhaps the Mitch behind the -matic, trying relentlessly and unsuccessfully to court a girl.  It’s hilarious, funky and fresh. Go buy it on his Bandcamp.

This is awesome.

This deserves a reblog.  Courtesy of @slavkation

Genesis by Grimes

New track from Grimes, preceding her third album Visions, is as ethereal, sensual and chic as ever. Maybe moreso.

shared from exfm

Another one in my ongoing series of Reasons Why McSweeneys Rules.

hotspotmusic:

Dear readers…. you may have noticed something of a winter hibernation here on HotSpotMusic.  2012 has brought about many changes and how we run HotSpotMusic will be one of them.  It has always been my intention to write about music in the way that I consume it - full albums - and to find music to share with others in a simple, unpretentious way.  And so it must continue.   

Since I neither have the time nor energy to maintain the both the quality and quantity of output that this blog and you deserve I am forced to choose….  Therefore, from this week HotSpotMusic will continue in one of two ways:

1. If you love the current format (simple album reviews, on time and on the money) then come write for us!  Demands are simple: love music, love writing and have time for both.

2. HotSpotMusic will change - I will continue to post but will increase the scope - not just album reviews but videos, playlists, single tracks, remixes and more.  From all over the place too, SoundCloud, exfm, 8tracks, Spotify, Rdio and more.  Reviews will be shorter but more plentiful.  It won’t be the HotSpotMusic we’ve come to know, but it will still exist and maybe there will be more new music as a result.

Got an opinion on how to keep things afloat?  Let me know!  Otherwise, get ready for some unfiltered, unadulterated, unbelievable tunes coming your way soon.

And so it goes.