As Morrissey famously sang, “I know it’s over but still I cling”, and that’s basically how we feel about summer right now. Why did it have to end? As a remembrance of the good times, we’ve got this free sampler of 4ad’s releases this summers featuring tracks by Grimes, Twin Shadow, Purity Ring, St.Vincent & [...]
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti have revealed a new and original song from forthcoming album, Mature Themes, out August 20. “Only In My Dreams” is the Los Angeles act’s most dazzling and melodic pop song thus far, recalling the upbeatness of The Kinks and vocal harmonics of 10cc, and offering a very different side to the [...]
Premiering this track on giant LED screens in New York City’s Times Square was a pretty ballsy move for George Lewis Jr., a man who isn’t backward when it comes to turning on the charm and making people listen. Which just happens to be fortunate for the fact that “Five Seconds” is the most upfront [...]
Ahead of a series of North American summer shows and European festival dates, The Big Pink have made available a free-to-download five track remix EP. Alongside efforts from AraabmuziK, Forest Swords and King Krule, is an unreleased acapella take on “77″ by Montreal’s d’Eon.
Ahead of the release of their second album, Future This, The Big Pink have recorded a set of five songs as part of the 4AD Sessions series. Bringing to life the anthemic qualities of the new album, the session is a showcase of the unabashed step towards stadium dynamics the band have made on Future This, while also displaying the often-curveball influences that continue to underpin their best work. The session captures what makes The Big Pink such an intriguing band. Effortlessly moving between the outre sounds of the underground and their love for shameless pop hooks, the band display the full scale of their creative ambitions.
In September of this year, St. Vincent took a giant leap forward with the release of third album, Strange Mercy. This time out Annie Clark was to combine her long-celebrated musical virtuosity with ambitious songwriting that ran a gamut of emotional cadences, all the while underpinned by a colourful sense of melody. Recording these songs live for the first time, St. Vincent has performed four tracks from Strange Mercy for the tenth visual instalment in the 4AD Session series.
Electro-rockers The Big Pink follow up their 2009 debut, A Brief History of Love, with a new single “Stay Gold” taken from the forthcoming album Future This, due out November 7 with the album to follow in January on 4AD. You can download both the track and a remix by AraabMUZIK for free right here. [...]
Electro-rockers The Big Pink follow up their 2009 debut, A Brief History of Love, with the new single “Stay Gold” taken from the forthcoming album Future This, due out November 7 on 4AD. You can check out the clip for “Stay Gold” below as well as download both the track and a remix by AraabMUZIK. [...]
Over the past few years 4AD have been posting specially recorded studio performances from artists in their roster. They’re now releasing a compilation of those sessions, featuring tracks by Deerhunter, Twin Shadow and Ariel Pink, in a limited vinyl release. Download a free digital version here and possibly win a copy on vinyl.
Having reeled us in with the provocative teaser track “Surgeon”, we’ve now been given “Cruel” the first proper single taken from Strange Mercy, Annie Clark aka St. Vincent‘s third studio album due out September 12 on 4AD. Directed and produced by long-time collaborator Terri Timely, the video provides the perfect visual accompaniment to the sinister lyrical themes that cut through the song. Seeing Annie Clark situated in various stages of domestic anguish, the video evokes the off-kilter suburban ennui of The Stepford Wives, and is proof positive that Strange Mercy will be St. Vincent’s most memorable work yet. She’ll be touring the UK with a full band this autumn, starting November 10 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London and finishing up on the 16th at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds.
Crystal Castles go disco (mutated to CC standards but still disco) on “Sad Eyes”, the third track taken from their third album (III). The clip for “Sad Eyes” features live footage of the band performing mixed with shots of Alice Glass lip-syncing along and other randomness. The melodic synth lines of the track screams ABBA (no, seriously), and is another departure from the screaming and soundsystem destroying sonic meltdowns that Crystal Castles are notable for. Having just caught the band on tour in Australia last week, they were on their usual deafening form, working the writhing masses into a frenzy. Life’s got to be a gas in that band, I tell you.
