WU LYF

Wu Lyf is the radical band all y'all will be dancing to at house parties by summer's end, and this is a video for their new song "Dirt."  Their upcoming LP, Go Tell Fire to the Mountain, is out June 13 all on their own thing World Unite. These Manchester kids got a whole smart style enterprise together.
4 further reading: what is the meanin of LYF; Guardian article from way back that states "'Wu Lyf are fucking brilliant;'" and sum NME coverage from early this year.  And they were also on the playlist for Episode 21!

Ice Cream (is gonna save the day)

So we've all been absent for a while, from the blog as well as the radio show. Part of this is definitely due to us being busy (and occasionally lazy, in my case). Still, even if you're busy, you should check out this video for "Ice Cream" by Battles, which is a really great song in its own right. The video, though, is definitely something special. And if you think, "Hey, Gavin, that video, with its quick shots of simple, occasionally sexually charged images reminds me of that other awesome video for "Bombay" by El Guincho," then you won't be surprised to hear that they were directed by the same design collective.

EMA

First off, an apology for not posting more often. We have always aspired to be a "real blog" and post at least once every day (maybe even 10 times a day) but we're still trying to find things to say.

Luckily, though, finding good music isn't the problem nowadays. EMA, the solo project of Erika M. Anderson (formerly of Gowns), is just the latest example of seriously badass music that's been appearing in the past few weeks. Her new album, Past Life Martyred Saints (out May 10 on Souterrain Transmissions), is full of grungy guitar shredding/destruction and frantic poetry in the vein of Kim Gordon (h/t yvynyl for the apt comparison). She herself describes it as "basement bedroom garage," which I think is also pretty descriptive.

Check the video for "California" above, and make sure to listen to first single "The Grey Ship" over on Soundcloud. It has this awesome transition where it goes from lo-fi to hi-fi; she has a post on her (interesting, candid & unpretentious) blog where she talks more about the process that went into recording that track. Other attractions on her blog include a review of a Lil' B show, babies in Cthulu costumes, and her shotgun-wielding family.

Anyway, the whole album is awesome. Get it when it comes out. I'm gonna post the mp3 to "California" (or maybe "The Grey Ship") below later, so if it's not there yet, drop by later.

tUnE-yArDs

If you've listened to tUnE-yArDs before, through her debut album Bird-Brains, her new single and video "Bizness," or her (allegedly) electric live act, you don't need me to tell you that her new album w h o k i l l (out April 19 on 4AD) is going to be good. But having listened to it virtually nonstop for the past 36 hours, I can tell you that it's amazing. Just the most unbelievable and exciting thing I've listened to in a long while.

The way she - Merrill Garbus - uses her voice (in timbre and melody) is kind of reminiscent of Dave Longstreth from Dirty Projectors, but she doesn't seem as densely preoccupied with the compositional aspects of her songs. That's not to say they aren't excellent compositions; they just seem to come more naturally to her than to Dirty Projectors. And then there's the minor detail that she does all of this by herself. Guitars, percussion, insane vocal multi-tracking, all of it.

Check the link below for the video for her first single, "Bizness," on Pitchfork.tv. I was going to embed it but the code didn't want to cooperate. Also, keep your ears open for the excellent tracks, "Gangsta," "Powa," "You Yes You," and pretty much every song on the album, actually.

Video: tUnE-yArDs - "Bizness" (Pitchfork.tv)

Kruxe, Don't Stop Please added to Kudzu Music Fest

We can now finally get rid of that annoying "More TBA" line at the bottom of our poster, because we've added our final two acts to our bill.

Kruxe are from Memphis, and include Andrew McDougal, a former member of local JW favorites St. Anthony. They call their music "pseudo psychedelic future punk," which is surprisingly accurate (or at least evocative). Check out the video for their awesome track, "Tremors," below.

Don't Stop Please are a local folk/blues sextet who can rock out equally well on a back porch and in a garage. Grab their tunes at their Bandcamp.