Mistletone

Mistletone is psyched to bring you Toro Y Moi‘s new EP Freaking Out as a digital and 12″ vinyl release on September 16. You can download a new jam Saturday Love from the EP from the Mistletone Soundcloud. It’s a disco/dance/R&B cover, originally released by Alexander O’Neal & Cherelle in 1985. Golden!

For Toro Y Moi’s Chaz Bundick, 2011 has seen the release of his acclaimed sophomore album, Underneath the Pine, remix work for Tyler, the Creator, a split 7” with Cloud Nothings, and a steady stream of international tour dates. Just over halfway through what’s already been a busy year, the prolific producer has a brand new batch of lavishly funky material to offer.

Bundick’s latest is no sloppily assembled bunch of Pine session throwaways—the Freaking Out EP was put to tape in June during a period of touring quiescence. The release finds Bundick reveling in twenty minutes of boogie, roping in the heavy sounds of groups like the Gap Band and Mtume. While the first two tracks are modern takes on the 80s post-disco vibe, “Sweet” sounds like the product of a Todd Edwards and Teddy Riley collaboration, with smooth synths weaving in and out of meticulously chopped and arranged vocal samples.

The New Jack influence spills over into the cover of Cherrelle and Alexander O’Neill’s “Saturday Love,” in which a swingbeat carries along fluttering piano lines steeped in delay. The EP’s crown jewel, “I Can Get Love,” sees Bundick assimilating styles of each of his to-date releases, with the synthesized funk of Causers of This, the irresistible hooks of Pine, and dance alias Les Sins’ penchant for filter effects and house beats.Full of energy and crafted with a conciseness that begs repeated listens, Freaking Out is Toro Y Moi’s most concentrated venture into pure dance floor hedonism.

Artwork by Bjenny Montero

Mistletone is proud to take our turn in the “Released Series” of indie label showcases at Melbourne’s Workers Club on Wednesday, August 17.

Our Released Series lineup features the latest additions to the Mistletone family — Montero, The Orbweavers and Wintercoats (see blurbs below), plus special guest DJ Rose Quartz on major pop jams betwixt bands.

Tickets $10 at the door. Every payer gets a three-pack of Mistletone CDs, and there will be acres of ludicrously discounted Mistletone back catalogue gems on the merch table.

Montero pic by Leah Robertson

Montero is a new project from Melbourne music compadre, comic book and video artiste Bjenny Montero. This soft-rock/slow-wave supergroop features the musical smarts of Guy Blackman (Chapter Music honcho and balladeer), Geoffrey O’Connor (Crayon Fields), Cameron Potts (Ninety Nine, Baseball, Cuba Is Japan), Bobby Fresh Bravington (Cuba Is Japan) and Gerald Wells (The TM Band/Baptism Of Uzi). Montero epics such as Mumbai and Rainman are the schmaltz-prog anthems for tomorrow. Look out for a debut Montero 7″ single in September with cover art by Bjenny and Sonny Smith.

The Orbweavers were formed in 2006 by Marita Dyson & Stuart Flanagan, humming along to the corrugated iron reverb and sewing machine ghosts of Brunswick’s derelict textile mills. They will be interweaving new songs from their forthcoming album Loom into their set for the Released Series; listen close for songs about creeks & quarries, dangerous needlework, basalt foundations, rising tide and greyhounds. Loom will be out on Mistletone before year’s end.

Wintercoats is the solo dream pop project of Melbourne multi-instrumentalist James Wallace. Beginning at the dawn of 2009, Wintercoats began composing various pieces for strings and piano, before expanding the instrumentation and shifting his direction from folk inspired music to dream pop. Opting to play solo, Wallace performs through the live sampling of piano, strings, percussion, and vocals, often drenched with reverb creating the sound of a ethereal, pop inspired orchestra. Mistletone will release Wintercoats’ Sketches EP on 12″ vinyl and digital release on September 30, in collaboration with Cascine in the US and Rallye in Japan.

DJ Rose Quartz (alias Richard MacFarlane) joins us from across the oceans. Rose Quartz: the love stone. It opens the heart chakra to all forms of love, including self-love. Rose Quartz has a gentle vibration of love for the owner and gives inner peace. In the spiritual realms it is often used to attract love, and for love spells. Rose Quartz can also be helpful for dream recall and dream work, and will keep the atmosphere of a room positive.

HTRK – WORK (WORK, WORK) out on Mistletone / Inertia September 9

Tracklisting:

Ice Eyes Eis
Slo Glo
Eat Yr Heart
Bendin
Skinny
Synthetik
Poison
Work That Body
Love Triangle
Body Double

Mistletone will release the new Panel of Judges LP Moods On The Move through Inertia on July 22 as a vinyl / iTunes release only. All LPs come with a download code.

PANEL OF JUDGES TOUR DATES:

SYDNEY: Thursday 14 July Album launch @ Goodgod Small Club (Siberia series) w/ Circle Pit + Marf Loth plus a collaborative performance from SAM (Bum Creek), CHRIS PETRO and DS (Siberia). Tickets $10 at the door.

SYDNEY: Friday 15 July Instore @ Repressed Records (356 King Street Newtown) w/ Lost Animal. All ages, free entry, starts 7pm.

MELBOURNE: Saturday 23 July Album launch @ The Tote w/- Peak Twins, Woollen Kits, Parading + Beaches DJs. Tickets $12 + BF presale or $15 at the door if still available.

These will be the last Panel shows for 2011 at least, so don’t miss ’em!

While the heritage of Panel Of Judges is stooped in the understated, though often cult-followed Australian and NZ pop underground of the 80s and 90s (see The Go Betweens, The Clean, The Moles), their tunes just as easily align with the new breed of sun-washed guitar pop currently emerging from humble beginnings across the globe. Audiences leaning towards honest, bright, chilled and thoughtful sounds will find their perfect indulgence in Moods On The Move, the latest LP from the Melbourne institution affectionately referred to as “Panel”.

Like all great bands, Panel have created their own universe – a world in which the everyday transforms into beautifully layered, levitating pop songs, written by some of Australia’s truly idiosyncratic musical personalities. Along with sporting some lively toe-tappers and sing-along choruses, Moods on the Move also sees some literary influences come to the fore, as Panel turn out Proust-ian pop symphonies for the indie kids (see Take the Long Way).

Their acclaimed 2008 release and Mistletone debut Bad Vibrations was described as “their most fully-realised (release) to date” by “a band at the height of their songwriting powers” (Mess+Noise). This album is yet another step forward, as significant changes in band dynamics and personal circumstance — including but not limited to the addition of Martin Frawley (The Twerps) on guitar — result in a broad and significant collection of recordings.

Panel has always been blessed with the gifted songwriting abilities of Alison Bolger and Dion Nania, who rotate on lead duties throughout the album. Dion tells a good story, his casually conversational yet beautifully poetic narrative stylings garner attention without demanding it; sharing personal expressions of undeniable love, pondering tricky friendships and musing on everyday happenings. Alison’s often subtle yet evocative tunes work in contrast and complement to Dion’s pieces, her off-kilter observations on the turns of the tides set us adrift, moving through delightful and poignant twists. In addition, we get a breezy guitar driven love song by Marty (Drift Away), strengthening an already sublime songwriting team, to which Paul Williams provides the perfect rhythm and percussive nuances as he has done for all Panel songs since day one.

All tunes sit comfortably side by side in conversation with each other like good mates — a true indication of the right and natural process of the album’s development, born out of a common vibe, genuine friendship, and a comfort/freedom to express. The album as a whole is a joyous celebration of everyday life in all its tangled glory; while the stories are not mine or yours, the sentiments can easily be shared.

Bad Vibrations reached completion just as Dion and Alison’s long-term relationship came to an end. Consequently, the foundations for a new friendship were forged and their creative/musical partnership evolved and strengthened.  Moods On The Move took shape as both Dion and Alison grew into their new relationships, and thus the album celebrates new loves, ponders the uncertainty of the present and future; and pays respects to the significance of all that has been before.

With Dion departing for New York immediately following the album launches in Sydney and Melbourne, and Alison embarking on motherhood shortly after that, these are the only Panel Of Judges shows scheduled for 2011 and should not be missed.

Opting for a vinyl only release (with digital download code included with the record – & it’s also available on iTunes) the band and Mistletone join music lovers in reviving the tradition of attractive, engaging and meaningful album packaging, to be cherished in cahoots with the content of the recordings, embracing the LP format in all its full artwork glory. The high-quality collectible record with cover art by Paul Williams (Panel’s drummer, also an accomplished visual artist), will be one to treasure.

Moods on the Move was recorded by Jack Farley at Headgap Studio in Melbourne, Australia and is released by Mistletone Records/Inertia in Australia and New Zealand.

Panel of Judges is:

Dion Nania: Vocals/Guitar/Bass
Alison Bolger: Vocals/Guitar/Bass
Martin Frawley: Vocals/Guitar
Paul Williams: Drums/Percussion

“Incredibly original, really unusual and one of the most interesting things I heard in a while.” – Mark Ronson

“Jonti definitely has his own style, which makes working with him very exciting, He’s a real great musician” – Albert Hammond Jr (The Strokes)

“Firework Spraying Moon makes want to run from this city, huddle up in a make shift tent and live by the light of galaxies far far away.” – Yours Truly

Mistletone’s latest, greatest signing is Jonti (the artist formerly known as Danimals /Djanimals), who is releasing his amazing new album Twirligig on October 7 on Mistletone/Inertia in Australia/New Zealand, and Stones Throw Records in the US.

Check out the incredible video clip for Jonti’s first single Firework Spraying Moon (set for digital release on August 9), here.

The video was directed by Henry DeMaio (Dam Funk, Mayer Hawthorne), and debuted on Pitchfork’s Forkcast this week.

Says Jonti on his Tumblr: “My first video! Shot on my first trip to LA. Underwater and upside-down monkey bar shots were fun as hell!  Everything you’ve heard floating around will make the most sense in the context of the Twirligig album.  However i chose this song as first single because i wanted a simple song that represented me in my element – creating music for the simple joy and satisfaction of creating it. No ego, no loud car crashes. yet”

Video credits:

Director: Henry DeMaio
Director of Photography: Ross Harris
Editor: Henry DeMaio
Makeup Artist: Sarah Bahlibi
Hair Stylist: Tammy Dube
PA: Matt Getz
Underwater Woman: Kamilah Davis

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

For Record Store Day tomorrow, our homies at Polyester (Fitzroy & city stores, Melbourne) and Red Eye (Sydney) will be selling a bunch of these very, very limited Panda Bear T-shirt/LP bundles. This shirt design will not be available again, and is not available online anywhere! There are only 1000 in the whole wide world. Go get ’em & show some love to Record Stores everywhere!

Mistletone is thrilled to release Share the Joy by Vivian Girls, their third full-length album and Mistletone debut, out now in all good record stores and on mail order.

Recorded at Rear House, the home studio run by Jarvis Taveniere (of the Brooklyn combo Woods), who engineered the album, the ten-song Share the Joy finds the threesome — guitarist/vocalist Cassie Ramone, bassist/vocalist Kickball Katy and new drummer Fiona Campbell — continuing to evolve and expand, sharpening and refining their transcendent mix of garage thrash, girl-group warmth and infectious pop hooksmanship. In a recent Spin Magazine feature, Vivian Girls were named one of 8 artists who most embody the Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” approach to songwriting and production. Other artists in the list of 8 include The Beach Boys, The Ramones, and The Jesus and Mary Chain. The article reads: “Of all the indie upstarts to miniaturize the Spector aesthetic in recent years–from the Raveonettes to Girls to Dum Dum Girls to Best Coast–these Brooklyn babes might come closest to earning it.”

It’s with great joy that Mistletone will be releasing Bachelorette, the third album by New Zealand’s Annabel Alpers, aka Bachelorette on May 20. This gorgeous album is bound to delight Annabel’s fans, and win many new admirers — it’s a true Bachelorette gem, winding Annabel’s voice around dreamlike synth-pop melodies. More details soon!

BACHELORETTE TRACK LISTING:

1. Grow Old With Me 3:22
2. The Light Seekers 4:05
3. Blanket 4:17
4. Polarity Party 2:12
5. Sugarbug 3:34
6. The Last Boat’s Leaving 2:53
7. Tui Tui 3:00
8. Waveforms 2:17
9. Digital Brain 3:21
10. Generous Spectre 1:55
11. Not Entertainment 5:27

Photos by Brian DeRan

Panda Bear’s forthcoming long-awaited new album Tomboy will see daylight on April 19 via Mistletone/Inertia. Tomboy was mixed by Sonic Boom (who also mixed MGMT’s Congratulations). To say the disc is highly-anticipated would be a slight understatement. Tomboy proves, above all else, that Panda Bear has risen to the challenge and surpassed (as well as sidestepped) all expectations. Underground and experimental in his approach to sound, he also strives to craft gorgeous pop for the widest audience possible. With Tomboy, he’s attained his greatest balance between the two extremes yet.

Mistletone is set to release Toro Y Moi’s new album Underneath the Pine on February 23 – just in time for the Australian tour. Having spent the year listening to film composers like Ennio Morricone and François de Roubaix, Chaz has made an album evocative of R. Stevie Moore’s homespun ruminations, David Axelrod’s sonic scope, Steve Reich-ian piano phrasing, and the pervasive funk of his first record. Underneath the Pine announces a new phase for an artist whose talent defies classification.

Mistletone was chuffed to be part of a summer fanzine published by the good people of Spunk Records.

Thanks to the very talented Alex Fregon for making it look nice for us (and putting our CEO Wayne on the cover!).

Heartfelt thanks to our generous contributors The Orbweavers, Ben Montero & Sonny Smith, Mark Barrage, Lucky Dragons and Robert Scott.

Look out for this epic epistle in a record store or bar near you, or order anything at all from the Mistletone mail order shop and we’ll delightedly send you a copy!

Scroll down for Mistletone’s Melting Moments of 2010…