Best of 2018 - Top 10 EPs

EP has always been a good format to discover new artists and music and like every year, we are presenting you our favorite extended players in a top ten list. As always the EP is connecting the world from New Zealand, Australia via Europe all the way to US and Canada.

Best of 2018- The Album List

2018 has been quite silent and not such active year with news and updates from our end. Musically there were some interesting releases but much weaker with offer (hardly any synthpop) than the previous years in this decade. Regardless to this, every year comes with certain charm and some records still manage to impress and leave long lasting memory.
What was evident, especially in the top albums pool, is that top four albums, in direct or in indirect way link to the LA music scene, and at least two of them feature collaboration with Ariel Pink which means that we have a thematic top five for the first time.
This year on our menu we have top ten favorite albums plus additional ones worth mentioning, also great but did not make such impact like the first ten. Of course there are always other good ones that we missed who might be considered in the years to come along the new releases.

Next Wave: Close Encounter

 Close Encounter is a Seattle based music band consisting of Bill Darksoft (Guitar/Vocals), Bobby Sydney (Guitar/Vocals), and Cameron Lambert (Drums). Their music is a perfect blend of shoegaze, jangle pop and psychedelic rave recalling some great genre masters, including Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine. 

The band released their debut 'First Light' in 2017 and 'Lost Time' in March this year, both via Look Up Records. 'Lost Time' combines jangley disco, dark 80s pop, and 90s shoegaze incorporating diverse textures and a wide range of moods, dealing with heartbreak, and the loneliness of modern communication.
The album is available for purchase online via independent record label Look Up Records, as well as in all record stores in Seattle (Everday Music, Silver Platters, Easy Street, and others).

https://closeencounterband.bandcamp.com/

Next Wave: There's Talk

There's Talk is an electronic dream pop trio which was started by Oakland based multi-instrumentalist Olivia Lee (vocals, synths, programming, guitar). Kellen Balla (electronics, programming, vocals) and Young Lee (guitar, vocals) joined Olivia with hopes of expanding ambitious electronic soundscapes for live performance. The debut EP 'Tiny Stands' was released in 2013 and after the release the band toured regionally, supporting Glass Animals, Cigarettes After Sex, Arthur Beatrice and many others. Their sophomore release 'Bathed Water Moon' which includes inputs from all band members was released on February 23rd. It includes 4 tracks which perfectly blends buzzing synths and echoing guitars with semi-whispering soft female vocals formulating another deep blue night dream pop concept. 

https://www.facebook.com/TheresTalk/ 

http://www.therestalk.com/Music 

In Review: U.S. Girls- In A Poem Unlimited

U.S. Girls aka Meghan Remy released her seventh studio album 'In a Poem Unlimited' this February and her second all together on the 4AD label. This album comes as a follow up to 'Half Free' from 2015 and its release was preceded with the lead single "M.A.H." which came out last year. The brand new album includes 11 new tracks and it was recorded in collaboration with Meg's husband Max Turnbull aka Slim Twig and his band The Cosmic Range.

U.S. Girls has always been good in experimenting with sound and influences, even before their time on 4AD, and this has not changed even with this release and their artpop seem to have even become more vivid this time. The beats on new album reflect 60's and 70's music styles influences, free jazz forms, boogie disco and funk which turn this venture into more organic and expressive music event. It is very dynamic with some pop delights here and there, the lead single "M.A.H.", downtempo "Rosebud" and more electronically structured "Pearly Gates" and "Poem". Vocally Meg's voice register seems to adjust to the music easily from soft whispering Kylish flavour to full soaring ranges. In terms of content, there is angry political commentary to the songs where it stands up against public lies by political and religious leaders as well as studies about gender power imbalances.

 

Now when we compare it with the previous album, there is the impression that the 'Half Free' even more raw in production, was somehow a rounded up concept,  sample based and obscure, that gave the impression of a more intimate affair with the artist. With "In a Poem Unlimited" it seems that the elements that bring the music together and the instrumentation on some tracks seems to be overexposed and a bit out of place. And track wise we are missing a tune that could reach the quality heights of the  brilliant "Woman's Work" from the 'Half Free'.

 

Overall U.S. Girls has expended their territory musically well and some songs have really nice production quality and the protest tone resonates well with the grooves, but as global product it comes too much as polished light Pop for what we would rather have preferred another experiment with loops and samples and therefore a slight downgrade to 'Half Free'.

Release Date: February 16th

Automelodi Return with New Single and Announce US Tour

The Montreal based Automelodi have also announced their comeback with a brand new track which is featured on Holodeck's Vision One compilation. It’s also been nearly five years since the last full-length Automelodi release and as per Post-Punk's Announcement, Automelodi, now a two-piece, is currently hard at work on the third Automelodi LP. Holodeck has also announced the reissue of Automelodi's second album 'Surlendemains Acides' and the duo will go on US tour. More info here.

 

Ladytron Return with a New Single -Animlas- and Announce New Album

Ladytron are back! After five years of hiatus and some of them focusing more on their solo work, they have released a brand new single "Animals", which also announces their sixth studio album in partnership with Pledge Music, expected to release in the second half of 2018. The b-side single includes the remix of Vince Clark. More about Ladytron to come...

Soft Cell to Reunite as Part of 40th Anniversary

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Soft Cell, Marc Almond and Dave Ball will be joining forces once again to play one final show, A Wild Celebration! The show will take place at the O2 Arena and tickets go on sale on Friday. All links will be published ahead of time on the front and Live pages so keep an eye out and join Soft Cell for One Last Time, A Wild Celebration. More after the jump...

http://www.marcalmond.co.uk/news/index.html

WAW: U.S. Girls- Rosebud

U.S. Girls have released their seventh studio album this year. The album is titled 'In a Poem Unlimited' and has been released on 4AD on February 16th. "Rosebud" is the fourth single to be taken from the album and the video for it was directed by Alex Kingsmill and Edited by Meg Remy. Soon more about the album! 

    

In Review: MGMT- Little Dark Age

Back in 2008 MGMT was quite a discovery for us, in particular for the single "Time to Pretend" which was magnificent both in terms of visuals and sound. Their debut album 'Orracular Spectacular' was among the top 5 Album releases of the year and it turned out to be the ultimate summer soundtrack spawning a whole line up of hits including "Electric Feel" and "Kids". It was a spectacular blend of indie neo-psychedelia with the absolute highlight being back then seeing them live at the Sziget festival in Budapest.

Ten years have passed now since the release of their debut and in the meanwhile the band released two more albums which sadly did not live up to the standard of their debut. In late 2017 MGMT surprised the world with the release of their single "Little Dark Age" which saw them entering dark waters and adopting 80's visual and rhythms. The Album which takes the same title as the first single was officially released on February 8th and after few plays it is clear that the album features a whole variety of sounds and influences. "Little Dark Age" for example leads the dark 80's synthpop inspired section which is also evident on "One Thing Left to Try" and "Me and Michael". On the other hand there is also a strong influence by the LA music scene and in particular Ariel Pink which gives MGMT's indie neo-psychedelia new face by mixing the new sound with hypnagogic pop. The album unfolds a whole variety of sounds and moods from dreamy to rhythmic upbeat tunes all reflected by layered and well imagined concept with twists of liquid elements and quirky 80's midi patches.

So far, four songs have been released from the album and it seems that this will be an album of hits but also as a concept and a whole package. It echoes a good focus, energy and maturity in sound and definitely brings MGMT back in the spotlight by giving 'Orracular Spectacular' a huge challenge. 'Little Dark Age' certainly is the big opener for 2018 and I am sure it will have an impact on the days to come.

The Damned Return with New Album 'Evil Spirits'

The Damned return 10 years after their last LP release ‘So, Who's Paranoid?’ from 2008. The new album will be entitled ‘Evil Spirits’. Propelled by an enormously successful PledgeMusic funding campaign and was produced with Tony Visconti who also worked with David Bowie and other popular musicians from 70’s up to date. The album is preceded by new single ‘Standing On The Edge Of Tomorrow’ which also announces band’s ‘Evil Spirits UK’ tour starting on 26 January. The album itself is set for release on April 13th through Search And Destroy/Spinefarm Records.

http://www.officialdamned.com

WAW: Editors - Magazine

Editors have revealed the video for the first single "Magazine" on Youtube. The song also announces the brand new album 'Violence' which will be released on March 9th, through through 'Play It Again Sam'. The music video for Magazine was directed by Rahi Rezvani. 

Preoccupations Announce New Album for March

Preoccupations have announced the release of a brand new Album, simply called 'New Material' which will be a direct follow up to their marvelous self titled sophomore album which was our Album of the Year in 2016. The band released their debut album as Viet Cong in 2015.

The expectations are huge even for this new release. The first single from the album has been revealed as well and it is titled "Espionage". 'New Material' is announced to be released on March 23rd on Jagjaguwar.

http://preoccupationsband.com/