Neon Musical Insight

DOWNLOAD MP3: Ducktails – “Hamilton Road”

Part-time Real Estate member/chillwave extraordinaire Ducktails has a new LP set to drop in the fall entitled Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics and with this bit of news also comes a fresh track. “Hamilton Road” may be recorded by Matt Mondanile under the moniker Ducktails, but it easily can be confused with a Real Estate song, mostly due to it’s superfluous, major key acoustic guitar work. The vocals are doused in reverb, while an additional electric guitar wobbly makes its way to the forefront thanks to some kicked up wah-wah. It’s a quick, easy listen that is light and lilting; something that Mondanile has become very successful in offering.

Last night, Jersey rockers Titus Andronicus brought “A More Perfect Union” to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon along with the addition of a female rhythm guitarist — that’s three guitars in total, ladies and gentlemen. Patrick Stickles’ guitar work was perfectly orchestrated and most importantly, the band looked like they were having a great time. Enjoy it boys, you’ve earned it.

On a side note, Jimmy Fallon has apparently replaced Conan as being the late night show host with the best/most indie bands. Watch the video above via Audio Perv.

Focusing highly on a stylized finished product, Kanye West teamed up with artist/director Marco Brambilla — creator of the video piece “Civilization” which can be viewed here – to drop this 90 second video, excuse me, I mean “painting” entitled “Portrait of Power” for his latest single “Power”. Sure it’s a step in a new direction and yes, the vibrancy of it’s rich, thematic layout is applaudable, but 90 seconds doesn’t do the cut any sort of justice. Then again, I shouldn’t be complaining too much, especially when so much effort was put into an art form — music videos, sorry Kanye, that’s what it is at the end of the day — that has slowly been on the decline over the past decades.

Check out the highly discussed piece above.

Olde English Spelling Bee just sent over this new fabulously NSFW approved video from the retro-fitting, tape scrambler Autre Ne Veut for a new track entitled “OMG” which will make an appearance on the debut LP later this month. Transparent said the track consisted of “Paul Simon-esque West African gospel-tinged chorus” which sounded pretty spot on in describing it. The video is definitely cringeworthy, but it’s this sort of ironic pairing that makes it funny to begin with. Check it out above.

I figured it’s taken long enough for Neon Musical Insight to get a mix together earlier this week, so without further ado, we present our very first mix entitled A Midsummer Night’s Dream. With summer being right around it’s midway point, It seemed like an appropriate time to offer up some free music that wasn’t restricted by any sort of timeframe. Some songs you may know, some you may not. Either way, hopefully you value it as being an enjoyable listen. Some of these songs are our favorite songs of all time, so don’t be surprised if they lean a little heavy on a particular musical mentality.  A direct download can be found here or by clicking the image above, while the tracklist is viewable after the jump.

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I’m not quite sure how this video had gotten past me, but one thing’s for certain, I’m glad I’ve stumble upon it. Big Troubles hail from Ridgewood, NJ, a town that is roughly 15 minutes from where I live. Naturally, I get excited when any sort of local tasteful musical act gains some recognition and lately, a ton of Jersey bands have been achieving this sort of success — see Real Estate, Ducktails, Julian Lynch, Titus Andronicus and on.

So upon watching this new video from Olde English Spelling Bee of the bands latest track “Bite YR Tongue”, you can imagine the excitement I felt when seeing the boys visit locally celebrated fast food spots — yay White Mana! The video ends humorously with a few members of the band making a quick, necessary stop to a porta potty. Oh yeah, and it’s a pretty kick-ass song as well. Check out the video above.

This video has been making it’s presence felt all over the indie world since it was first recorded Monday night when the Arcade Fire made a stop at Philadelphia’s Mann Center. For whatever reason, the band decided on this particular night to dedicate a track to the unforgettable Jay Reatard by covering one of his most memorable songs entitled “It’s A Shame” and boy did the crowd respond — the recorders reaction is pretty indicative. The cover is divine and builds steam throughout the four long minutes, with a grandstanding, final cathartic release. Nobody does it better than these guys. Really.

Teen Daze has been getting crazy hype since the release of his EP Four More Years from a few months back. “Driving Home From The Beach (The Feeling Of)” isn’t featured on the EP, but it can hold it’s own with any other track featured. The neat-o blog Dead as Digital created this non-official video capturing all of it’s melancholic nostalgia, while reminiscing on some treasured childhood memories. Summer beach trips with the fam are something that I have held close to my heart, so it’s always nice to see others with similar values. It comes at a perfect time as well, with summer winding down and all.

Check it out above to see what I mean.

DOWNLOAD MP3: Okinawa Lifestyle – “Wir Sind In Der Zukunft Geblieben”
DOWNLOAD MP3: Okinawa Lifestyle – “So Near”

This duo residing in Tbilisi, Georgia go by the name of Okinawa Lifestyle and make electronic dance funk that balances acts like Daft Punk and Justice along with the more recent crazed Chillwave sound of Toro y Moi. With song titles like “Wir Sind in Der Zukunft Geblieben” and “Black Sea Shark,” it becomes obvious that this duo — David Datunashvili and Gigi Jikia — are products of their environments. The synthy stutter steps in the former song mentioned come blended with overarching nostalgia, in the form of some flightier keys, to create a grandiose sound that is both fun and exhilarating. On the closer, “So Near,” baritone vocals are sung in English over an extremely chill beat that gives off that perfect, pure, summery vibe — sort of like Ernest Greene did last summer with his Life of Leisure EP.

Download the EP Lazy Friend You Move So Fast on their bandcamp page here and stream/download “Wir Sind in Dir Zukunft Geblieben” and “So Near” above.

This new video from Wu Lyf is absolutely delightful. The full title of the song is actually “i got dem wu wu busted teef spitting it concrete like the golden sun god” and even though quick assumptions of pretension might arise with a song title like that, I would highly suggest to wrestle those ill-advised feelings to the side. This new song is defyingly charming and equally anthemic, while the video artistically portrays native islanders being brutalized for unknown reasons — think Avatar but less blue.

Not much is known at the moment on Wu Lyf, other than the fact that they’re a pretty large band — the numerous roars on the track should help give that little clue away. Head to their website to attempt to learn more about them.