May 8, 2011

Mistletone Autumn notes

Just as the autumnal sunshine is fading, Mistletone has a bevy of new releases falling from the branches, all of which can be found in all good record stores thru Inertia, for your mail order convenience at the Mistlemart, and for your listening pleasure at the Mistletone Soundcloud. Read on…

PANDA BEAR – TOMBOY (out now).
Tomboy is the incredible new album by Panda Bear (a/k/a Noah Lennox of Animal Collective). Massive in its span of emotion, genre, and sound, Tomboy is the welcome return of one of the most prolific and consistent audio pioneers in recent memory. Destined to be one of the albums of the year and an all-time classic, Tomboy has the critics in raptures.

“Precisely composed & executed, Tomboy plays like an eternal sunrise”
– TWO THOUSAND

VIVIAN GIRLS – SHARE THE JOY (out now).
On their third album (and Mistletone debut) Share the Joy, Brooklyn’s Vivian Girls continue to sharpen and refine their transcendent mix of garage thrash, girl-group warmth and infectious pop hooksmanship. Guitarist/vocalist Cassie Ramone, bassist/vocalist Kickball Katy and new drummer Fiona Campbell (a New Zealander & former member of The Coolies) have given us their most memorable songs and most focused performances yet.

“Sunshine-pop, dustbowl twang and non-cutesy rocking… a cocky, take-it-or-leave-it act from a battle-tested band” – THE AGE (four stars)

BACHELORETTE – BACHELORETTE (out May 20).
The third album by New Zealand’s Annabel Alpers aka Bachelorette is built on buzzing synth grooves, folky guitar strums, and the occasional snap of drums and percussion, aided and abetted by a whimsical, searching sense of instrumental color. We are guided through the darkness of infinite space by Annabel’s luminescent lead vocal. Pre-order now from Mistletone mail order and check out the first single Blanket here.

“Driven by a pulsating
Black Cherry-era Goldfrapp beat, Blanket is as good a single as she’s released” – MESS +NOISE

THE MAGIC PLACE – JULIANNA BARWICK (out June 24).
Brooklyn artist Julianna Barwick‘s Mistletone debut The Magic Place (released in the US on Sufjan Stevens’ label, Asthmatic Kitty),  is a nine-piece full-length album of magic and solace, bursting joy and healing tones. It’s the layered fragments and pieces that become an intricate pattern through technology; it’s the sound of a rising thing, a big group harmony as a splash of sunlight through a car window, a sound that feels like hope and ascendance and patience and intimacy.

“It has the feel of a modest classic of post-millennial ambient music, the kind of record that sounds gorgeous and immersive on first listen and never loses its sparkle.”
– PITCHFORK BEST NEW MUSIC (Rating 8.5)

MOODS ON THE MOVE – PANEL OF JUDGES (out July 22).
Mistletone will release the new Panel of Judges album Moods On The Move on July 22 as a vinyl-only release with download codes. Now a four-piece with Martin Frawley on guitar (he of recent US-conquering The Twerps), Panel recorded & mixed the new album at Head Gap Studios with Jack Farley with mastering magic added by Casey Rice. The result is a dozen sparkling new jams from a much-loved Melbourne band who have never sounded better; we can’t wait to share this record with you! The double-A single, Dainty Vagabond b/w Coconut Trees, is up now on the Mistletone Soundcloud.

WORK (WORK, WORK) – HTRK (out Sept 9).
After the slow burning “pop” effort Marry Me Tonight (2009), Melbourne-via-London’s HTRK make their Mistletone debut with WORK (work, work), a similarly flat-lined study of desire and submission, this time complicated with elements of sentimentality and dysphoria.  The gritty electronic sound design and simple beauty of these 10 new songs belie the sheer psychic weight to be found on this record; HTRK finished production whilst grieving the sudden loss of founding member and bassist Sean Stewart to suicide in March 2010. With WORK (work, work), HTRK seem no longer content in simply creating a mood — they now seek to impose one: a mood as elusive and complex as it is completely engulfing.  The album develops, dream-like, through languid sounds and brief flashes of emotion, from the sickly sweetness of Synthetik to the sexual confusion of Bending and everywhere in between.  Written from 2006-10 whilst the band were living in Berlin and London,  WORK (work, work) offers a subtle transformative experience for anyone to share in HTRK’s expression of visceral grace.

Tune into Facebook & Twitter for future Mistletone news & musings…

until then!

x TEAM MISTLETONE

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