It’s Friday, which means your correspondent is about to head off on vacation (wooooo!) and also that it’s time to look back at the best new music we’ve heard over the last few days. This week, there’s the return of Throwing Muses, a ballad by Karen O from the soundtrack of the new Spike Jonze film, Eminem taking it back to 1986, a taste of the Angel Haze album, various heavy psychedelic guitar workouts, and plenty more. All this is streaming for absolutely nothing after the jump, so click through and get listening!
Throwing Muses — “sleepwalking-1”
Not only is there a new Throwing Muses album in the works — the first in a decade — it’s got 32 songs and it comes with an art book. Life is good. Also, this song is great — it’s like they’ve never been away.
—
Karen O — “The Moon Song”
Aw, this is lovely. It’s a quiet acoustic ballad that’s apparently going to appear on the soundtrack to upcoming Spike Jonze film Her, where it’s sung by Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, but Karen O has also recorded her own version, which you can download for free.
—
Eminem — “Berzerk”
In which Eminem joins Run-DMC.
—
Azar Swan — “Cruel Summer”
Brooklyn duo and Flavorwire faves Azar Swan turn Banarama’s lament about summer heartbreak into a dark, claustrophobic anthem to hating summer in general. If you’ve sat through the last couple of months next to the AC unit, sweating uncomfortably and waiting for the fall to come, you’ll like this a lot.
—
Angel Haze — “Echelon”
The backing track is horrible, all Alice Deejay synths and punchless beats, but the mere presence of Angel Haze on a track generally makes it worth listening to, and she’s in typically coruscating form here. Apparently this will be on her debut album Dirty Gold — let’s hope the rest of the production is better, eh?
—
Sleepy Sun — “11:32”
Sleepy Sun were one of the first bands to come out of the ongoing San Francisco-centric psych renaissance, and they’re in particularly heavy form on this new track, which will appear on a new 7″ that’s out in October. No word on a new album yet, unfortunately.
—
Bardo Pond — “Taste”
Also on the heavy psych front — a new track for the most excellent Bardo Pond, which comes from their upcoming new album Peace On Venus, and sounds like an amp melting for about five minutes, overlaid with a melody that’s all lilting, dreamy melancholy. Perfect.
—
Tim Hecker — “Virginal II”
Well, this bodes very, very well for Tim Hecker’s upcoming album Virgins, from which it’s taken — it’s five-and-a-half minutes of atmospheric beauty, starting with an echo-laden live piano figure that eventually disappears into a swirling pink cloud of synth noise. It’s strange, and hypnotic, and curiously emotionally affecting.
—
Dean Wareham — “Love Is Colder Than Death”
It’s always nice to hear something new from Dean Wareham, and he’s on excellent form here. This is the A-side of a new 7″, which is out now. Hurrah.
—
Majical Cloudz — “Childhood’s End” (CFCF Re-Version)
This is a thoroughly excellent remix of one of my favorite tracks of the year. It’s minimal and spacey, replacing the beat of the original with some sort of Asian-sounding arpeggiated synth pattern and a warm, quietly understated bass sound. The effect is quietly pensive, matching the somber subject matter of the song.