Oliver Bouchard

Music

NEW MUSIC: Emika - Klavirni

Normally, I wouldn’t be drawn to a record with 13 acoustic piano tracks, all named Dilo. But I love Emika dearly and I actually liked her previous piano work a lot: the closer of Emika, Closing Credits always gets me with its dark intensity and her 2003 Klavirni EP

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NEW MUSIC: Sea Change - Square

Sea Change is the stage name of Ellen Sunde from Norway. Her music is melodic and glistening and her voice reminds me of Empress Of or Salt Cathedral. She releases her first record Breakage on February 23rd. Her first challange will be to step out of Beck’s shadow, whose

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Color War - Shapeshifting

Although this video has already been released last fall, it is too good to let it pass. Filmmaker Crystal Moselle did this video for the Brooklyn electronic music duo Color War. The song is great, but juxtaposing it with three young ballet dancers having fun all over Manhattan is genius.

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FIRST LISTEN: Until The Ribbon Breaks - A Lesson Unlearnt

Until the Ribbon Breaks at SWSW 2014 When we saw Until The Ribbon Breaks last year in Austin on our way to see a different band. I remember, I liked them, but I was more concerned with freezing on the open deck of Maggie Mae’s and the deadly accident

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MUSIC BUZZ: Björk

It’s all about Bjork this week: after her album “leaked” she descided to just put it out on iTunes, weeks ahead of the official release. Why not? Pitchfork also published a stunning interview with her. For me it was an eye-opener. Of her, I had in my mind the

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LIFE SOUNDTRACK: Sneaker Pimps - Bloodsport

2002 was a tough year for us: New York City was still reeling from 9/11, the economy was depressed and we had difficulties to find jobs. And, to make this all very visible, an official drought caused all fountains of the city to be shut down. My soundtrack for

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NEW MUSIC: TelePathiQ - Dark Room

Dark Room is the first EP of TelePathiQ, the electronic music project of Darrick Riggs. The first two tracks are slow-burning, built on top of heavy, complex beats and dark synth drones and feature two different vocalists (or the same one through different effects). The last track is an instrumental

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Ibeyi - Ghosts

Ibeyi are twin sisters from Cuba who do a very special kind of music out of piano and percussion. The video is black and white and minimalistic and gorgeous.

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MUSIC BUZZ: Björk // Little Dragon // Teenage Rockstars // More

Björk announces her new album Björk announces her new album Vulnicura and an accompanying tour with stops at Carnegie Hall and City Center in NYC. Then there is a retrospective of her work at MoMA. All this points to a rather high concept, artistic piece of new music like her

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Throwback: SPK - Junk Funk

I saw this video first and last on TV in 1984 during the German show Formel Eins, a watercooler-talk inspiring video chart presentation in the 80s. Somewhat later, when we discovered “alternative” music, I learned about about SPK’s earlier work: as an Australian art collective they did industrial punk

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NEW MUSIC: Bandit - Losing in a Sense

Bandit is a three piece from Nashville, fronted by singer and guitarist Angela Plate. Losing in a Sense is a slow-burning track guided by heavy guitars and I can hear quite a bit Fools-era Warpaint in it.

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MUSIC BUZZ: Bono // NPR // Grimes // More

Bono from A to Z U2 singer Bono recaps 2014 in a very long, very personal blog post: This is too long. You should not have time to read this. But it is actually well worth your time. No matter if you like U2 or not, it is interesting what

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NEW TRACK: Dena - Another Love

This year I want to have a closer watch at what’s going on musically Germany. I’ve already mentioned DENA a few weeks ago. She’s originally from Bulgaria, but lives in Berlin and brings somehow a German angle to pop music. Her new song Another Love is catchy

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NEW MUSIC: Låpsley

Låpsley is from Liverpool, 18 years old and signed to XL Recordings. Falling Short is a good song that maybe fits a little to well into what is currently hip in electronic pop music. Låpsley just released her EP The Understudy.

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Excited about 2015

The music world 2014 ended with a heated discussion about the business model of the future and if the meager payouts by streaming services have the potential to kill music by new artists. On the other hand, one only has to go to SXSW or CMJ to see how much

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LIFE SOUNDTRACK: Depeche Mode

When I was thinking about which Depeche Mode album to chose for a life soundtrack post, I realized that some eight albums of theirs played a role in different phases of my life. And since it’s New Year’s Day, this is about all of them. Construction Time Again

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VIDEO OF THE YEAR: Kiesza - Hideaway

This video is just a lot of fun, especially for us, who have passed this passed this street corner dozens of times. Kiesza is from Canada, but she chose to film this clip on N 12th and Kent in Williamsburg, which is very close to Output and a some of

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FIRST LISTEN: Mr. Twin Sister - Mr. Twin Sister

Every year, after the top ten list is out of the door, I discover more music that should have been on there. Maybe. Anyway, it’s too late to change the list, but still time for writing about an album I love more with every listen. Twin Sister added the

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Music for the Ocean: Asura - Life^2

We’ll spend a lot of time at sea over the holidays, so I was thinking about music with a nautical theme. Turns out, there’s nothing among my favorites. So I chose a record which I find ideal for looking at the ocean: Asura’s Life^2, released in

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Ha Ha Tonka - Lessons

Ha Ha Tonka released a stylish video for Lessons, one of my favorite song of theirs.

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MUSIC BUZZ: Billy Corgan // Year End Lists // More

More Year End Lists are in Aside from Elke’s and my top 5, more year end results are in. Pitchfork chose Future Island’s Seasons (Waiting on You) as best song of the year and FKA twigs LP1 as the runner-up after Run The Jewels in the best albums

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LIFE SOUNDTRACK: The Smashing Pumpkins - Adore

The Smashing Pumpkins are one of the most successful rock bands of the 90s, so it is odd that I discovered them only by the end of the decade. To be precise: Elke discovered them via the Depeche Mode tribute album For The Masses and then then went out to

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2014 Top 5 to 1: Oliver's Choice

5. Banks – Goddess Banks did everything right with this album: she took very personal and intmate songs, which she reportedly wrote in her bedroom on a toy keyboard and enlisted help to wrap them into gorgeous tracks that fit perfectly into the musical trends of 2014. While this is not

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NEW MUSIC: Adryelle - Rainbows

Adryelle plays a new song on a bunch of keyboards and a drum machine in what looks like her room in Baltimore. She has also an exceelent EP Waiting Room out at Bandcamp

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NEW MUSIC: Purity Ring - push pull

The Canadian duo Purity Ring is back with a new song. They also titled it in real English words.