To celebrate the end of 2010, Ian has sent me photos he took at shows from this last year. You can see more of these at his tumblr, and below are a few selections. I have also included a few film photos I took of the Smith Westerns, Sweet Bulbs and Total Slacker from the Pelly Twins & Todd P. Halloween Party. I was never into those year-end lists, so these photos are a representation of some of Ian and I’s favorite artists from 2010. These photos are a reminder of the times spent with friends, the awesome vibes and the great music heard live, which I believe is better than any year-end list could hope to be. The above picture was taken while Ian and I were waiting for the J in Brooklyn after a Vibes Management party. We don’t know who that guy is, and he isn’t dead or anything, he was more like ‘partied out’. I needed to pee extremely bad, and we had to wait almost a half-hour for the train to come. It was one of the longest half-hours I have ever endured, but Bagelsmith made up for it on the way back to Ian’s place.

Ian and Alaina, aboard the Swift Ranger for the Take Me Somewhere music video

Alaina from Tennis

Patrick from Tennis

Morning Benders

Andrea from Twin Sister

Birthdays

Blondes

Luke Perry

All aboard with Real Estate

Memoryhouse

Idiot Glee

CH-Rom

Cults

How To Dress Well

Tucker from Total Slacker

A Smith Western

Sweet Bulbs

By: Louis

My Games EP recently came in the mail after a fairly long wait, however well worth it. I played Side B first, which opens with one of my favorite tracks of theirs called Shadows In Bloom only to be followed by what I now know is a remix of CFCF’s It Was Never Meant To Be This Way. Completely stunned by how amazing this track sounded on wax I stood there in awe not realizing my roommate was asking me to go to the bar. I recently stumbled upon a piano version of this same song thanks to Coco’s OCD, and I sit here at one of my favorite coffee shops on this snowy day contemplating how the same song sounds so radically different yet equally as amazing. I highly recommend picking CFCF’s 12” EP from RVNG Intl. Below is a stunning black and white video featuring a contemporary aesthetic.

CFCF - It Was Never Meant To Be This Way (Piano Version) from RVNG Intl. on Vimeo.

CFCF: It Was Never Meant To Be This Way (GAMES Remix)
CFCF: It Was Never Meant To Be This Way (Piano Version)

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By: Louis

Daytime Television is a purveyor of lo-fi dub and electronica, an interesting enough meld to make a first listen all you need to get hooked and reeled in. Psychedelia and infectious samples surround the fuzz of Daytime Television’s low fidelity recordings, thus creating vibes of epic proportions. Be sure to download the whole EP here.

Thanks Friendship Bracelet

Daytime Television//I Hurt So Much from krysta sa on Vimeo.

Daytime Television: I Hurt So Much
Daytime Television: Click Here

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By: Louis

Woodsman is psychedelic post rock at it’s finest. Guitars and drums rumble the earth like animals roaming through the wild; and are surrounded by glistening psychedelia which blur the lines between reality and fantasy, animal and homosapien, homosapien and nature. Below is a poem by Cambrige, MA poet Chris Tonelli from his chapbook of short poems, titled “{WIDE TREE}”, a literary example of the artwork that Woodsman’s music creates for me. Woodsman has an upcoming LP dropping on Trevor’s own Firetalk Records, called “Rare Forms” at the end of January.



Woodsman: Insects
Woodsman: Serfer

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By: Louis

Around September sometime I stumbled upon my mom’s cassette tapes that she used to teach her fitness classes in the 90’s in our basement. She taught STEP, Spinning and Yoga to name a few. My sister and I used to go with her to all of her classes when we were kids during the summer, and I can say each tape is a recallection of the 90’s for me, a complete throwback into all I experienced growing up during that time. MEGASTEP, in particular, is a tape created by a company that compiles remixes of songs according to a certain BPM for a workout. This tape features generic drum beats, well laid-out synth lines, funk, and nice vocal samples. Overall it is a simple, well done C45 of electronic dance modified for workouts. It’s is a reminder why I have such a short-temper with the glo-fi genre, because I grew up listening to the sounds they attempt to emulate for their nostalgiac, laid-back aesthetic, and I have the real thing sitting in the form of 30 or so cassette tapes in a milk crate.
MEGASTEP: Excerpt 1
MEGASTEP: Excerpt 2
MEGASTEP: Excerpt 3
(photo) By: Louis

The Yes Club is a band that plays fast, upbeat, psychedelic garage filled with early 60’s nostalgia. The below video is a compilation featuring the Breakfast Club, 80s freestyle skateboarding, and a Great White Shark, among other clips, all washed in a VHS haze. Their music is available on Bandcamp for free, recorded in their practice space on a Dicta Tape.

The Yes Club - Whoa from adamkautz on Vimeo.

The above video was a reminder of one of my all-time favorite technical skaters, Rodney Mullen. Below is a parking-lot performance of his talents from 1984.



The Yes Club: Whoa

By: Louis

Coco Zoabi runs a blog called Coco’s OCD, her posts are often full of premieres and artists you wouldn’t find anywhere else. She’s originally from Nazareth, studied Psychology & Film in Jerusalem, and now resides in Brooklyn, NY. Below is an interview about a new track by Pendu NYC and International Tapes contributor Luke Carrell -creating music under the moniker SIMIAN GIBBONS.

Purple Pain Killer

SIMIAN GIBBONS AKA Luke Carrell is providing a relief to a wide scope of pains with his treatment/handling of Prince & The Revolution’s ‘I Would Die 4 U’ 1984 track, paradoxically called SIMIAN GIBBONS PRPL PAIN, though as is it with potent drugs, it’s not withstanding the side effects, such as the withdrawal symptom, as in, actually feeling sick when it’s un-played. Simian Gibbons has transformed the up tempo original 80’s dance track, into a lo-fi 80’s inspired electro dirty-fied conquering modernized hymn.

Purple Pain

SG: The track is the result of watching Purple Rain a few days before getting sick and taking Dayquil doses measured out roughly in a shot glass.

Backdrop

SG: The song probably sprang from an obsession with screw that AIDS-3D rekindled almost two years ago, growing up around Texas rap, hearing my friend Ben Aqua DJ the Backstreet Boys at half speed one too many times at art galleries and parties.

Methodology

SG: I lowered the track’s speed and pitch by a little more than 20% and fed the result through a bank of effects: phaser, multi-band, _____________ ,(c’mon, you didn’t think I’m actually gonna post the whole recipe, the rest of this is my current “best kept secret”, Coco) until I had something that was really harsh. Then I took the effected version and mixed it with the unaffected version of the slowed track. Not too shockingly, the unaffected version sounded like a twisted take on more traditional R&B. Each change on its own wasn’t horribly significant, but cumulatively they tug the sound in a more caustic direction, hence the “pain.” Was also in a fair amount of physical pain at the time, so that definitely shaped how I built the whole process. I’m still tweaking the basic method I developed that night.

Prince- Related

SG: Prince has made some of the most perfect pop music ever, so I approached this with the attitude that improving the music wasn’t going to happen; only changing it was possible. The process puts the music in a novel grey area that leaves it up to the listener to figure out whether it’s sexy or scary or what have you. Prince is amazing at creating that sort of ambiguity on his own. The process adds layers of cellophane over what’s already there.

By: Lara Shahd Zoabi (Coco)

SIMIAN GIBBONS: I Would Die 4 u (SIMIAN GIBBONS PRPL PAIN)

Cruising Into another dimension is this new video for Food Pyramid’s psychedelic track titled Cruisin off of his “II” cassette tape, which you can get from Moon Glyph in an edition of 150.

Food Pyramid - “Cruisin” from moon glyph on Vimeo.

Food Pyramid: Cruisin

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Previously:
THE VELVET FIST [mp3]

By: Louis

Branches just hit me up with this stellar collab that he and Paul North from Sunnybrook worked on together. Salao Flamingo II is a reworking of Branches’ original track Salao Flamingo, with the addition of Paul’s vocals. This track reverts you back into the summer-standing at the shoreline and letting the current cover your feet with wet sand.

Branches & Sunnybrook: Salao Flamingo II

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By Louis

Samuel Yager continues to create rifts in the realm of psychedelic pop, with his newest track Howolding Girls. Howolding Girls creates a colorful atmosphere, with the use of Sam’s electronics. A transducer works by converting one form of energy to another, and Birthdays mirrors this effect by taking happy emotions and converting them into music.

Fire Talk Records is releasing this jam in the form of a 7”, dropping in January. You can pre-order it here. You may remember the B-side, JNCO Genius, from my World Hunger Compilation which you can still download for free here.

Birthdays: Howolding Girls

(via/via)

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By Louis