Chormatics

This is a great new band for Portland. They're part of a larger group of musicians trying to revamp disco influences and I think Chromatics might be the best in this contingent. The song "Lady" above has a really great housey, ravey electronic hook, reminiscent of Blondes and maybe Forma. That cool disco-kraftwerk vibe. Also, the lead singer is smokin'...

Willis Earl Beal

This guy is truly amazing. Willis Earl Beal is an "outsider" artist from the south-side of Chicago. Apparently, he's 27 and has spent most of his time living with his mom, visiting his grandmother and singing to loved ones over the phone. It's a real honour to be able to post up artists like this. It's not often that someone from outside the music industry drops your jaw (though I'd imagine that we had access to hear everybody, the world would be a much better place). Anyway, he's now singed on to an important indie label, was flown to New York and signed a contract while drinking champagne and eating lobster sandwiches with Damon Albran. His music moves from noise to folk to bluesy, soulful howling to standing on street corners, singing and clapping. Apparently, he'd like to be "a black Tom Waits". The song evening's kiss is astoundingly sweet, beautiful and naive. Also, you can watch him singing underneath a bridge on the South-Side below:

SOKO

SOKO is a French folk musician and she has a beautiful new song with an equally beautiful video to go with it. It's a very cute and cosy piece with careful, catchy little guitar licks that change tempo through the different phases of the song. I love how the dark haired guy in the video is so gender-ambiguous. The grainy images in the video feel like a distant memory of early, but not forgotten love. All this, combined with some heart-wrenching lyrics, make for a really moving experience.

Factory Floor

So, London's Factory Floor has been gaining a good amount of steam recently. These guys worked with Throbbing Gristle and New Order and now have an industrial/electronic sound all their own. You have to stick with it for a while, but, I promise you, after the first 3 to 4 minutes, this music becomes completely intoxicating. They do a really nice job bashing you around with their machine-like rhythms and textures and there is just enough of a beat to give you this peculiar sort of Dyonistic dance vibe. Savage and beautiful at the same time. Minimalist, yet full of character. 

Nils Økland

Okay, this stuff is a little old, but I've been walking around Norwary's experimental music scene recently and I just found out about Nils Økland. This is really amazing stuff. Very stark, graceful and contemplative post-modern (yet traditional) compositions. It's good to get a little sophisticated sometimes.

Seapunk

So, have you every wished you were an underwater person? An underwater person who listened to house music all the time and had huge crazy underwater themed rave parties? I think about that kind of thing all the time. And now it's a reality. Apparently, there is a growing trend of musicians making underwater inspired dance music. They've been taking over hip dance clubs in Chicago and LA, in particular Chicago's Berlin Club. People are saying that the trend has grown out of chillwave and witch-house, which makes sense. What happens when you mix the jukey, ravey tendencies of witch-house with the beachy tendencies of chillwave? Seapunk, I guess... Anyway, it's pretty cool. Fire For Effect and Zombelle are the two main musicians in the genre at the moment. Both are currently based in Chicago. Of course, with new microgenres come new wardrobes, so dye your hair turquoise and take all that black, pagan-emblembed, witch-house shit you've been wearing and dye that shit turquoise too.

Jakob Olausson

Swedish musician Jakob Olausson has just released a new album called "Morning and Sunrise". His first album as very folky (perhaps freak-folky) and this new one takes more of a classic rock spin on his spacey folk. It's got a very late 60's psychedelic vibe to it - full of reverb-drenched acoustic guitars in the background with twangy lead guitars occasionally dancing on top. There's a laziness to the album (in the best possible way) as well. Olausson's vocals are very reverby and lingering and some of his guitar playing is very off-the-cuff. It's a really nice album. Apparently, when he isn't making music, he is a beet farmer in rural Sweden.