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Philadelphia-based The War on Drugs’ sophomore LP, Slave Ambient, is out now via Secretly Canadian Records. The driving backbeat, thick slabs of vintage keyboards, and staccato vocals on “Baby Missiles” have us dancing in the aisles.

Baby Missiles

Zomby
Dedication
4AD CD

Online, UK producer Zomby cultivates a fairly mysterious presence, but music speaks louder than the blogosphere. Indeed, Zomby has shared his most eloquent and personal release yet with Dedication, his debut full length release for the 4AD imprint. According to AMG, the dedicatee in question is the producer’s father, who passed away while the album was being made. And while there’s little time to pause for reflection in 35 minute long rush in which Dedication’s fifteen track’s are delivered, there’s an undeniable warmth of presence, a humanist deconstruction of dubstep to foreground its most accessible melodic elements, which signals a palpable shift in Zomby’s musical values.

For every ode to glitch electronica, such as the percussion-filled “Vortex,” there is an impossibly lovely watercolor synth/dance essay like “Natalia’s Song” that serves as a musical counterweight. And tracks like “Haunted” and “Basquiat” integrate an affecting lyricism into Zomby’s already multifaceted sound world. If one had a tiny quibble, it would simply be that several of these cuts could easily have been extended to allow them to blossom more fully. But one still must admit that, as a compressed document, everything works. Dedication proves to be a lithe and essential sonic essay on the potential for dance electronica to be reinvigorated as a boldly moving idiom on more levels than the merely kinetic.

Fops is a Bay Area duo featuring Thee More Shallows singer Dee Kesler and Ral Partha Vogalbacher lyricist Chadwick Donald Bidwell are releasing For Centuries, a new mini-album, on September 5. The 7-song, 43-minute EP will be released as a limited edition cassette (with letterpress insert by Bidwell) and digital download via Monotreme Records.

Fops is sharing “Cheater Carolina” as a free MP3 via Soundcloud (embed below).


Fops ‘Cheater Carolina’ by Monotreme Records

Yellow Jacket Corpse – by Fops from monotreme records on Vimeo.

Slowcore stalwarts Low have released a new video for “Especially Me.” It’s an album cut from C’Mon, their latest Sub Pop CD. They’re also sharing the track as an MP3 download via the embed below.

Recent Low continues to employ the slow tempi, atmospheric arrangements, and sumptuous vocal harmonies that are their musical signatures (as on “Try to Sleep” and “Especially Me”). But there’s an even greater accessibility and even the occasional ambling mid tempo number thrown to raise the BPM quotient, if only slightly (listen to “Witches” and “Hear Everything”). Thus C’mon proves to be that relatively rare record by an established band that retains the group’s initial inspirational spark while still presenting a fresh-sounding approach to the material.

C’mon Tour comes to the West Coast in September, and returns to NYC with Iron and Wine in October. Low will be returning to Europe in November and December, including playing the Jeff Magnum curated ATP Festival in Minehead on December 3rd.

US TOUR DATES
Saturday September 3rd – Masonic Temple – Winona, MN – Tickets
Thursday September 15th – The Rio Theatre – Vancouver, BC – Tickets
Friday September 16th – Neumos – Seattle, WA – Tickets
Saturday September 17th – Aladdin Theater – Portland, OR – Tickets
Monday September 19th – Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA – Tickets
Tuseday September 20th – El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA – Tickets
Friday September 23rd – Velour Live Music Gallery – Provo, UT – Tickets
Saturday September 24th – Bluebird Theater, Denver, CO – Tickets
Sunday September 25th – Armstrong Hall – Colorado Springs, CO – Tickets Onsale Saturday 8/23
Wednesday October 12th – Terminal 5 – New York, NY, supporting Iron & Wine – Tickets

EUROPEAN TOUR DATES

Nov 24 – Autumn Falls Festival @ Cirque Royal – Brussels, Belgium – Tickets
Nov 25 – Le Guess Who Festival @ Tivoli – Utrecht, Holland – Tickets
Nov 26 – Sinkkasten – Frankfurt, Germany – Tickets
Monday November 28 – Magazzini Generali – Milan, Italy – Tickets
Tuesday November 29 – Palace – St. Gallen, Switzerland – Tickets
Wednesday November 30 – Fri-Son – Fribourg, Switzerland – Tickets
Thursday December 1 – L’Epicerie Moderne – Lyon, France – Tickets
Friday December 2 – La Gaité Lyrique – Paris, France – Tickets
Saturday December 3 – ATP Festival – Minehead, UK – Tickets

Abstract Artimus releases Rite of Passage, his latest album, on September 6 via Dire Life Records.

One part Beefheart-inflected post-psych, one part roots boogie, with a leavening of electrified blues,  and a hard rocking back beat.  its lead off single, “27 club” is gutsy stuff.

MP3: “27 Club“

Dedication, Zomby’s new full length, is out now on 4AD. They’ve been kind enough to share, “A Devil Lay Here,” a track from the record, for free download (via the embed below).

Toro Y Moi is sharing a track off of its forthcoming Freaking Out EP (out 9/13). Download via the embed below!

“Xenharmonic is a term coined by Ivor Darreg used to describe tuning systems, or music using those systems, which does not conform to or closely approximate the common 12-tone equal temperament.”

Possible Worlds, liner notes