Category Archives: New Artists

Reptar’s “Sebastian”

Posted on February 22, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Yeah, we’ve been waiting for this one. After teasing us with EP Oblangle Fizz Y’all  the kooked up boys from Reptar have dropped their first hint from up-coming full debut, Body Faucet. Besides evoking some particularly strange bodily imagery, the album and opening track “Sebastian” seems to have some promise. Lots of it.

Jammed with tribal percussion, steel drum samples and one surf-happy guitar, “Sebastian” is a perfect encapsulation of Reptar: crazed and care-free to the point of bliss. With lead singer Graham Ulicny doing his best Ezra Koenig impersonation– “Mixing my emotions, you just don’t care!” he wails–Reptar takes off on choral hollers and sets the bar high for the rest of its 11 tracks.

Reptar’s Body Faucet comes out in May 1 on Vagrant Records.

Reptar- Sebastian (sign up for their mailing list to download)

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Shlohmo’s Vacation EP

Posted on February 20, 2012 by | 1 Comment

This short three song EP from Shlohmo–LA’s maestro of muddied, mellow beats–finds the classically trained, maximally blunted producer trading in the live-session feel and soul-rending howls of his debut album, Bad Vibes, for something with a little more bounce to the ounce.

Vacation is a short but sweet slice of the young beatsmith’s gray matter, three songs under 15 minutes in which you can hear innovation and talent coalesce into a vibrant palette of sound that Shlohmo, born Henry Laufer, would use to paint the damn sky if they’d let him.

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Lana Del Rey at Amoeba SF 2/9/12

Posted on February 10, 2012 by | Leave a comment

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Photo: Brian Valdizno

After a month of being blasted in the media, lampooned on Saturday Night Live and roasted on every social networking outlet available, Lana Del Rey made her San Francisco debut at Amoeba Records on Thursday. With pending tour dates cancelled because of the negative hoopla, Del Rey’s show at the end of Haight Street was likely one of her only public appearances for the year, corroborated by the bulging crowd that filled the record store’s aisles all the way to the back reaches of the classical section. Yes, even those searching for Bach vinyls needed their Del Rey fix.

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Do you hear that SIREN?

Posted on February 8, 2012 by | Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I’ve heard about a really good, new, independent artist.  Usually, when I browse through Hypem, it’s filled with Skrillex remixes amongst recycled rap music and the like.  Then making his entrance is Stefan Evan Niedermeyer, or SIREN, the 21 year old with a bright future in front of him.

21-year old Stefan Evan Niedermeyer aka SIREN is a half-German, half-Australian musician, who is a young man of many talents. Raised in Singapore, Niedermeyer’s life was initially all about skateboarding, but after moving to London and getting more and more into making music, he’s now about to release his first single ‘Buckets Of Blood’, a beautifully crafted and catchy song about not finding the right path with the right girl. With plenty of more great tunes written and an experienced production team behind him, 2012 will be the year of the SIREN. (via Lodown)

It’s been a while since I’ve heard something sound fresh, yet so familiar and welcoming in a while, so be sure to listen and share with all your friends.

SIREN – Buckets Of Blood (download)

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Sharon Van Etten’s Tramp

Posted on February 6, 2012 by | Leave a comment

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So, you remember those albums I was really excited about for January? Well, the dark, introspective part of me overrode the quirky and experimental this past month. I assign the blame to Sharon Van Etten, Brooklyn’s modern folk songstress. Her third album, Tramp, is out via Jagjaguwar, and upon first listen I realized that this was the album I hoped to get this year. ‘Heavy rotation’ does not even begin to explain how many times I envision myself appealing to Van Etten’s croon for understanding and rapport throughout the future months. Sharon, we have never met, but you will be my best friend this coming year. I will sing along with you, in grief and elation, and feel that through your songwriting you have looked into my soul and delivered the blackest as well as the most cherished emotions back to me through songs so pristine, that I know myself better now because of you.

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