Daily Download: Yacht: See A Penny (Pick It Up)

Jona Bechtolt’s work under the Yacht moniker is the culmination of a punk-rocker’s past butting heads with the possibilities of electronic production. As one-half of the electro-pop duo The Blow, Bechtolt has proven he knows his way around a laptop. As Yacht, he redefines pop, fusing Beach Boys-eque melodies with hard-hitting, synth-heavy, electro grooves.

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Geoff White Nevertheless

Barcelona-based American producer Geoff White has shed the mold of the cold, distant techno artist. Where his peers’ minimal tracks are rigid and repetitive, White’s are shimmering and shifting. Nevertheless is all about motion and inventive patterns; from organically pulsing dub motifs to the album’s sturdier dancefloor fare, White focuses on intriguing sounds. Warmly glowing tracks like “Sharpie” and “Opposing Platforms” sum up the album’s slower-tempo mood, and the collection’s mixed presentation makes for reflective listening. A worthwhile outing for those seeking a painterly approach to electronic music.

Bracken We Know About the Need

Former Hood member Chris Adams has created a hypnotic blend of cold, isolating soundscapes and shambling beats on his debut album as Bracken. It’s fitting that his big entrance comes courtesy of Anticon, since the droning vocals and twitching songs fit in perfectly with the label’s leftfield sensibilities. While Adams seems wed to one style–junkyard electronics so lulling and pastoral they take on a hint of dread–he executes it well. The emphatic guitar twang of “Fight or Flight” and the tumbling “We Know About the Need” recall the frenzy lurking in many Caribou tracks.

Efterklang Under Giant Trees

Danish 10-piece Efterklang continues to tread nature-inspired post-classical territory on their third outing for Leaf, the aptly titled Under Giant Trees. Flitting from major to minor keys, as if in constant dialogue with itself, the album finds tracks like the splendorous “Falling Horses” and the almost playfully melancholy “Towards the Bare Hills” chafing against the ambivalent moodiness of “Himmelbjerget.” Each composition is as majestic as the last, whether relying on the sweeping elegance of Rachel’s, the child-like coyness and wide-eyed tenacity of Múm, or the sort of broad classical strokes that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Godspeed record. A mighty, thoughtful offering of Morr-inspired chamber pop for the post-apocalyptic set.

YACHT “See A Penny (Pick It Up)”

Jona Bechtolt (a.k.a. YACHT) is the culmination of a punk-rocker’s past butting heads with the possibilities of electronic production. As one-half of th electro-pop duo The Blow, Bechtolt has proves he knows his way around a laptop. As YACHT, he’s redefined the pop gamut, fusing Beach Boys-eque melodies with hard-hitting, synth-heavy, electro-grooves.

YACHT – See A Penny (Pick It Up)

Haiti’s First International Music Festival

Jacmel, Haiti has never seen a music festival, but from May 25-27, the region will get a taste of international glory as more than 24 bands and musicians take the stage for Festival Mizik Jakmel.

Set to headline are Stephen (pictured below) and Damian “Junior Gong” Marley, while reggae, hip-hop, jazz, and R&B acts like Les Nubians, The Reggae Cowboys, and Emeline Michel will showcase their talent before the Caribbean Sea and a bunch of stoked Haitians, and to a lesser extent, vacationing music enthusiasts from around the globe.

But even with the Marleys generating celebratory buzz, there’s another reason to eagerly anticipate this worldly gathering–a really big drum circle, and we’re not talking about some cheesy group of smiling performers or overly excited hippies.

Festival organizers Jeremie Sterlin, Patrick Boucard, and Kate Tarratt Cross seem to be aiming for the Guinness Book World Record, expecting over 10,000 drummers to get down.

Outside of the drum circle warfare and line-up, the fest is designed to empower Haitians through art and culture. Part of the proceeds will go to local non-profits like Fondation Sant D’A jakmèl, Ecolede Musique Dessaix Baptiste (Jacmel Music School), Kroma (a foundation for street children), and Pazapa (an outlet for the handicapped).

Boucard states that, “Empowerment through music, the reconnection of Haiti with the rest of the world, the promotion of regional tourism, and the projection of a positive image of Haiti are some of the goals that we want to accomplish.” With a drum circle that mammoth, those goals may easily become a reality.

Caribou Signs to Merge

Ontario-based Caribou recently left his longtime home at Leaf to join Durham, North Carolina’s Merge Records, and is preparing to release both a new EP and full-length, Andorra, of his Kraut- and psych-rock-hybrid sounds later this year.

It seems this new album blossomed from what’s an all-too-common syndrome among artists these days–burnout. After an extensive 135-date tour supporting his 2005 release, The Milk of Human Kindness, Caribou main man Dan Snaith finally succumbed to some much-needed R&R. And, of course, it was during this time that Andorra was made (because, really, he wasn’t relaxing, but putting “seemingly endless hours into [the album]” and getting “madly excited about [his] music”). The new album sees more of Snaith’s decidedly psychedelic sound, as well as the influence of having a live band, from the track arrangements to the infrastructure of the melodies themselves.

Merge will also release a Caribou EP, “Melody Day,” which is the first single off the new record.

Andorra is out August 21, 2007 on Merge.

Tracklisting
1. Melody Day
2. Sandy
3. After Hours
4. She’s the One
5. Desiree
6. Eli
7. Sundialing
8. Irene
9. Niobe

High Priest Born Identity

High Priest, formerly of Anti-Pop Consortium and Airborn Audio, finally unleashes his solo album, running his trademark deep-voiced flows over some truly bizarre but wonderfully outsider hip-hop. Like MF Doom on LSD crossed with a digital Sun Ra, Priest’s lurching beats, overdriven samples, and snake-like synths never lose the groove, ultimately making this the strangest post-APC release yet. He sounds like a tottering drunk preaching in a forgotten music store on Mars. A thing of terrible beauty by one of the decade’s most amazing MCs.

Joakim “I Wish You Were Gone”

Tigersushi founder Joakim Bouaziz has shaped the newest incarnation of post-punk with his often-remixed and lusted-after LP, Monsters and Silly Songs. Passing through chunks of ambient noise, minimal-electro, and dance-punk carnage, Joakim‘s production takes no prisoners. “I Wish You Were Gone” is emblematic of this Parisian powerhouse’s uncompromising vision.

Joakim – I Wish You Were Gone

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