Today's Hotness: DTCV, Thin Lips, Spectres

>> We suppose it's possible another song as enchanting as DTCV's "L'Accord Parfait" will be released this year, but we can't imagine one more enchanting. The romantic swooner is a bit of a deep cut on the Hollywood-spawned duo's forthcoming fourth full-length Confusion Moderne, which is due next week on Xemu Records. DTCV is comprised of songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Lola G. and Jim Greer. If you're sitting there saying to yourself "*That* Jim Greer?" the answer to your question is "yes." For those not in the know, Mr. Greer is -- among other things -- a former member of Guided By Voices and author of the excellent book "Guided By Voices -- A Brief History," which book we highly recommend. If memory serves, Greer also once took us to task on Twitter for using the genre descriptor shoegaze in a non-pejorative way, something we felt oddly honored about. Anyway, the aforementioned "L'Accord Parfait" is a highlight of the very strong album, and achieves an emotional peak in its final choruses as layered vocals beginning a delirious swirl of words. The song and indeed most of the album features lyrics sung in Lola G.'s native French, and these are apparently concerned with "her anti-capitalist, neo-anarchist, radical feminist, and pro-environmental concerns," according to press materials. While it's hard to hear "L'Accord Parfait" in the context of that heavy subject matter, the substantially more gritty "Conformiste" -- whose riffing verses call to mind The Dead Boys' classic punk anthem "Sonic Reducer" -- certainly channels a serious vibe. New York-based Xemu releases Confusion Moderne as a digital download April 8; a very limited edition clear blue vinyl version released in France is already sold out. DTCV plays a hotly anticipated Boston show at O'Brien's Rock Club in Allston Rock City April 17, an evening that also features GBV-ophiles Halfsour, scene heroes Reports and The Dazies. DTCV formed in 2012 and was initially known as Detective, a name borrowed from the title of a Jean-Luc Godard film. The act's previous releases include the cassette However Strange on Burger Records, a label that readers will recall co-released last year The Pre-Fab Messiahs' delightful 10" Keep Your Stupid Dreams Alive. Stream DTCV's "Captain Ennui" and "Bourgeois Pop" via the Soundcloud embeds below, and click here to purchase the set as handy MP3 files.





>> Philadelphia indie-punk unit Thin Lips's Divorce Year EP was one of the best releases of 2015, so we've been eagerly anticipating a full-length from the band. Our proverbial prayers will be answered May 20 when Philly's Lame-O Records releases the quartet's debut long-player Riff Hard. The 10-song set is heralded by the stupendous preview track (and video) "Never Again," a hook-spangled ripper that foregrounds fronter Chrissy Tashjian's potent, emotive vocals. The tune is a 155-second blast of uptempo awesomeness with a shout-along chorus and zippy lead guitar licks. Ms. Tashjian powers the tune with a voice that can do jubilant just as convincingly as bummed. Long-time readers will recall that Thin Lips sprang from the equally tremendous but sadly defunct guitar-pop unit Dangerous Ponies -- other members of DP went on to form emo heroes The Superweaks (which features Chrissy's brother and sometimes bandmate Mikey Tashjian). Sadly, second guitarist Chris Diehm's father is gravely ill with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and treatment costs are mounting; two test pressings of Riff Hard were to have been auctioned off recently to help defray those costs, although we're not sure if the auction has happened yet or not. Either way, donations can still be made via Paypal; check out the details here. Thin Lips recently wrapped a short tour with the Max Levine Ensemble; they next play Boston June 23 on an extraordinarily hot bill that also features emo titans Modern Baseball and Joyce Manor. That June show is near the tail-end of a massive strand of tour dates that stretches from late May through early July, making 2016 truly a summer of rock for the act. Lame-O is already taking pre-orders for Riff Hard. The set is available in a limited edition of 750 black vinyl LPs (pre-order here) or as a digital download (pre-order here). Stream "Never Again" via the Bandcamp embed below.



>> We went gaga for the doom-'gaze sounds of Spectres' stunning 2015 collection Dying, and we're not the only ones. If you follow the Bristol, England quartet on the social media, you've seen them popping up next to famouser folks like Henry Rollins or Thurston Moore (maybe we imagined the latter, as we can't find the pic now). Just last week, Spectres disclosed it has been tapped to open a number of vintage shoegaze faves Lush's reunion dates. Dying was recently followed up with a remix collection called Dead that sees songs from Dying getting the remix treatment from luminaries including Ride's Andy Bell, Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite, and Factory Floor, among others. In all, Dead contains 13 tracks, as Dying standout songs "Mirror," "Sea Of Trees" and "This Purgatory" were remixed doble vez. And yet Dying *still* has not had a proper domestic release. Perhaps that is going to change though, at least in a limited way. According to a recent email, the US LP subscription service Vinyl Me, Please is offering subscribers a limited edition of 300 Dying LPs pressed to "the blood of Phil Collins" red vinyl. The same email says non-subscribers can get the record in "regular shops" in May. It's unclear if that would be leftover stock from the Vinyl Me, Please pressing, or a larger pressing in wider release; it's also unclear if the reference to "regular shops" means US shops. So keep your fingers crossed, we suppose. Spectres is promoting the release of Dead with a strand of gigs in the UK, some of which will include appearances by certain of the remixers; if you are in the UK and fancy seeing a show, we'd suggest looking up the show dates here and buying tickets ahead, as tomorrow night's date at London's Waw Warehouse is already sold out. Stream Mr. Braithwaite's remix of "This Purgatory" via the Bandcamp embed below. Stream all of Dead via Spotify right here.

Today's Hotness: Frog, Thin Lips, Propeller

>> London-based Audio Antihero has made a cottage industry of identifying smart, singular talent on both sides of the Atlantic for the past five years, and while the label claims to be shuffling toward a planned obsolescence, it also seems to autonomously keep doing its thing like a mis-programmed robot in spite of label head Jamie Volcano's efforts to wind things down. And so at the end of the month Audio Antihero gives us the sparkling and weird debut full-length from Queens, New York-based lo-fi duo Frog. The act is comprised of guitarist/singer Dan Bateman and drummer Tom White, but if you are imagining something garagey a la White Stripes, you're well wide of the mark. Unless, that is, you stop that last sentence at the word "imagining," because the pair's bottomlessly wistful record, which is really actually titled Kind Of Blah, often feels as if only Messrs. Bateman and White's collective effort thinking about all things Frog keeps its ethereal and other-worldly music from popping like a speech balloon in a comic strip and dissipating like a fever dream. Kind Of Blah presents a very personal, sepia-toned collection of songs. Layers of clean guitars, humming synth chords, polite drumming, and murmured vocals pile up just high enough to offer a perch from which to peek through a smeared window at an innocent and imaginary New York.

The band's list of influences name-checks Hank Williams, Silver Jews and The Meat Puppets, and its songs boast ready hooks and a trebly sound that recall the AM Gold of the '60s and '70s, but even all of that only partially accounts for the strange wonders of Kind Of Blah. The entire set feels like it exists outside of time; the title of "Wish Upon A Bar" seems more appropriate for a Garth Brooks record, but the reality is the tune's pastoral drone feels like a constant, noisy dawn. "Knocking On The Door" sounds like Tinariwen's concurrent approximations of Traffic's "Can't Find My Way Home" and Supertramp's "Goodbye Stranger." Yes, we really did just type that sentence. The most sonically dense and emotionally potent point on the record is the crashing crescendo of the relatively rocking "Photograph." Astute readers will discern that we've yet to even mention any of the preview singles for this record, which we reckon is a testament to the inherent breadth and depth of Kind Of Blah as an album. The collection was recorded in a derelict bowling alley under a cafe in Queens and it will be released by Audio Antihero on LP and as a digital download May 25. The record is already available for pre-order right here and the three preview singles -- "All Dogs Go To Heaven;" "King Kong;" "Judy Garland" -- are available for streaming below; Frog previously released a self-titled EP on the Monkfish label in 2013. The duo's next live engagement is tomorrow night at Palisades in Brooklyn, and full event details are right here.







>> Discovering a band just as they are on the cusp of breaking up is a disappointing story that plays out with some frequency for the avid music fan, and that's where Clicky Clicky found itself a couple years back when The Weaks' Evan Bernard turned us on to Dangerous Ponies. At the time, the Philly-based indie punk act fronted by Chrissy Tashjian was in the process of releasing its terrific Tenderheart EP; then it went out on tour, it came back, and it broke up. Sad face for the music blogger. But we are pleased to note here in these electronic pages that Ms. Tashjian now fronts the steadfastly rocking foursome Thin Lips, and her rock combo just last week issued a jarringly brilliant debut EP titled Divorce Year. The vital collection is more tense than Dangerous Ponies' swan song, likely due to the darker subject matter and not the personnel, as Thin Lips is comprised mostly of former members of DP. But while there is a bit less sunshine on Divorce Year, its four bracing songs are smartly composed and pack an emotional wallop. The syncopated, gripping opener "Nothing Weird" opens big with wiry guitar melodies and a stuttering rhythm, above which Tashjian offers insight into an unsteady romance with her very affecting drawl: "you're leaving today, and I'm staying put, I'd follow you there but I'd just shadow you into a rut..." Seagreen Records released Divorce Year last week in a limited edition of 100 cassettes, supply of which we expect is dwindling rapidly, as Thin Lips recently wrapped a tour with the amazing Hop Along and probably encountered a very receptive audience that likely included some kids who own tape decks. Two of the tunes on Divorce Year were previously issued in rawer form as a demo way back in 2013, a digital release that somehow eluded our attention, so all you completists might want to hit this link to get your ears on early versions of the rockers "Gemini Moon" and "Non-Monogamy Nightmare." Stream all of Divorce Year via the embed below, and click through the obtain the digital download on a paywhutchalike basis. Highly recommended.



>> When there are so many rock and roll balls in the air all at once, it can be a bit too easy to take your eye off one for a good long while. Which helps explain why it's been five years since we last checked in on San Francisco power-pop unit Propeller. Readers with photographic memories (or a willingness to use the search box at upper left) will recall that the act is built around songwriters Greg Randall and Will Anderson, who at least around here are best known as members of the original, left-coast iteration of our dearly departed Varsity Drag (that band played its last show April 30). Since we last checked in on Propeller, it has issued a second full-length and two digital singles, and its most recent offering is the cracking pair "Wish I Had Her Picture" b/w "Can't Feel These Things." The sparkling strummers (songs 26 and 27 in the band's oeuvre, apparently) carry the characteristically sunny melodies and sing-alongable choruses we remember from Propeller's earlier work, and it is still easy to hear the influence of Scottish hitmakers Teenage Fanclub (and maybe a touch of Fresno's The Miss Alans) in these latest two tunes. "Wish I Had Her Picture" presents three minutes of delightful jangle and tight vocal harmonies, and the free, fuzzy vibe continues into "Can't Feel These Things," the virtual B side. The two songs were released to the wilds of the Internerds via Bandcamp April 3, and you can stream them via the Bandcamp embed below. The band plays what we presume is a very rare east coast show May 29 at Leftfield in Manhattan, so if you are in "the city" that day, we would direct your attention to that there gig. One last notable fact: Messrs. Randall and Anderson recently marked 25 years of playing in bands together, which is a remarkable feat no matter how you slice it. Stream "Wish I Had Her Picture" and "Can't Feel These Things" via the Bandcamp embed below. You will be pleased that you did.

Today's Hotness: Chambermaids, White Laces, The Weaks

>> Based on the full-length it just dropped, seemingly out of the sky, long-running Minneapolis-based dream-pop quartet The Chambermaids know exactly what they're doing. Cataloged with the too-clever "post-shoegaze" badge on Bandcamp, and sporting influences like Yo La Tengo and New Zealand indie label powerhouse-turned-all-encompassing-genre-tag Flying Nun, the band's got a firm grip on that dreamy, dreamy sound Clicky Clicky adores, as evidenced by a terrific sophomore full-length issued just last week. The collection, titled Whatever Happened Tomorrow and released by Guilt Ridden Pop Sept. 25, abounds with wonderfully realized dream pop tunes highlighted by its centerpiece, "China Blue." The tune is pushed by a bouncing rhythm built on strident strumming and crash cymbal bashes, over which The Chambermaids layer distorted and reverbed guitar leads. The confection is iced by fronter and co-founder Neil Weir's murmured vocals, with bassist Martha Weir's voice providing a gentle, ethereal foil, playing the Butcher to Mr. Weir's Shields, if you will. There's something to be said for channeling influences as well as The Chambermaids do, but it detracts from the richness of the band's songwriting, and the compelling blend of gloss and rough edges to the sparkling production work here, to belabor the point. The foursome's painstakingly created and strongly presented material (just listen to the sunshiney fun of the catchy cut "Electric Sky") certainly stands up on its own. Whatever Happened Tomorrow is available on limited edition vinyl, CD and as a digital download, all of which can be procured via the act's Bandcamp yert right here. The Chambermaids, now a 10-year-old concern, previously issued a self-titled LP in 2006 and an EP titled Down In The Berries in 2009. -- Dillon Riley



>> Richmond-based minimalist space-pop juggernaut White Laces are poised to release a cassette single via Philadelphia's Treetop Sorbet next week. The hunk of plastic and magnetic tape contains the stellar tunes "Ascend" b/w "Deep Moves," two dynamite tracks that speak to the foursome's admirable focus and composition chops. Guitar lines intertwine around fronter Landis Wine's dreamy, echoing vocals, his lyrics like incantations falling through the characteristically crystalline ambient atmosphere conjured by the band. White Laces, as we previously reported over at Facebook, will begin recording an as-yet-untitled sophomore full-length LP in December in Philadelphia with Jeff Zeigler of Uniform Recording. Mr. Zeigler's production work on records from The War On Drugs and others is well-known, and the pairing of this engineer and the band is something we're unreservedly excited about. If you don't habitually read our Facebook page, then you may have missed our posting last week of a fresh video clip for White Laces' "Incantation," which we certainly continue to recommend to your attention. The cassette single of "Ascend" b/w "Deep Moves" will be released in a limited edition of 100 clear purple chrome tapes by Treetop Sorbet Oct. 7 and you can purchase one for $4.50 right here; it is the final installment in a cassingle series put out by the label that also included released from The Young Sinclairs and Alpine Roses. Stream the whole jawn via the Bandcamp embed below.



>> Speaking of Philadelphia, exciting things are afoot with The Weaks, the long-running and prolific collective helmed by all around cool guy Evan Bernard. One of these exciting things, and perhaps the most exciting of these things, is that The Weaks, heretofore a studio concern only, announced today that it will play a debut live show in its hometown Nov. 7 at the new venue Boot And Saddle. The act is also preparing the release of an EP titled The World Is A Terrible Place & I Hate Myself And Want To Die, and the first track from the 7" collection is already available for streaming. The tune is called "Nietzsche's Harvest Song," and it is filled with all of the elements that make The Weaks great: punk-pop energy, some cock-rock lead guitars, massive emo vocals (the bellowed opening line is "lately I've been having a lot of bad ideas...") and hooks galore. There are some particularly clever, more delicate touches, too, like the classic bridge, and the tinkling, tremeloed guitar in the chorus. The Weaks have felt a bit like a secret for the past year or so that we've known about them, but that should change in a big way once people can turn on to these cats live. The World Is A Terrible Place & I Hate Myself And Want To Die will be self-released by the band Dec. 22, just in time for you to purchase it and throw it in a Christmas stocking. However, it doesn't appear you can buy the 7" just yet, but in the meantime the band is selling rad t-shirts with the art for the single emblazoned on the front. Get into it! And stream "Nietzsche's Harvest Song" via the embed below.

Today's Hotness: Tullycraft, Fridge Poetry, Mutes



>> The fact that we haven't bought a Tullycraft record since the release of 1999's singles compilation (fittingly titled The Singles) is more a sign of poor decision making than of a lack of enthusiasm for the delightful indie pop institution. We can still remember the excitement in college back in the dark ages when those first singles were arriving at the radio station, a time when people still somewhat suspiciously referred to Seattle-based Tullycraft as the "new thing from the Crayon guy." Fronted by Sean Tollefson, whose naive, adenoidal vocals were the template for a surprisingly widespread strain of twee pop in the mid-'90s, Tullycraft and its upbeat indie pop would seem to have influenced countless acts that came in its wake, from Belle & Sebastian to Weezer. Tullycraft is now, somewhat startlingly, in its eighteenth year of existence. The band's latest collection, its sixth, is titled Lost In Light Rotation, and it is filled chock-a-block with sweet, concise and pure pop gems. From the fizzing opener "Agincourt" with its addictive bomp and self-effacing pre-chorus ("...I used to be clever but it didn't last...") about staying up late and buying records, to the moderately paced album highlight "Westchester Turnabouts" with its more subdued vocal and pretty harmonies, Lost In Light Rotation is proof positive that Tollefson and company are turning out the strongest material of its career. Which makes it all seem oddly anachronistic in a way: in the world of Tullycraft, it is constantly 1995, love is perpetually innocent, cardigans and thick nerd specs de riguer. The fact Tullycraft is able to do this almost 20 years into its career is a testament to the timeless appeal of undeniable pop hooks, which the quintet conjures with embarrassing ease (or borrows, as is the case of "From Wichita With Love," which appropriates Bobby Freeman's oft-covered 1958 pop classic "Do You Want To Dance?"). Magic Marker released Lost In Light Rotation on blue vinyl April 23; a CD version was issued by Fortuna Pop and a cassette is available via Fika. In addition, Fortuna released the title track "Lost In Light Rotation" as a single (with a cover of Yaz's amazing "Bad Connection" as the flip), and the entire record is embedded for streaming below. No matter what format you prefer, your spring will not be complete without hearing Lost In Light Rotation, so buy it here, here or here.



>> Well it's been eight months in the offing, but Fridge Poetry -- the bedroom pop project of Johnny Foreigner drummer Junior Laidley -- has finally delivered on its long-promised EP Soweto Slo Mo, which will be available via Bandcamp Monday. As we wrote here last August, the project's name is apt, as Mr. Laidley -- in the spirit of Dntel and The 6ths -- produces the music and then invites vocalists in to complete the tracks. Earlier this week Fridge Poetry unveiled a second tune from the four-song EP, titled "I'll See." The song features crushingly sad vocals from Evan Bernard of Philadelphia-based indie acts Dangerous Ponies, The Weaks and seemingly a thousand others. Mr. Bernard's high and lonesome vocal blooms over top of a poignant piano ballad augmented with electronic beats and is digitally delayed and smeared, resulting in a powerful downer that falls somewhere between The Postal Service's "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" and American Football's "Never Meant." Which we think you'll agree is a very good place to be. Last August Fridge Poetry revealed its debut track "Crash Down," which is also included on Soweto Slo Mo along with two additional numbers, "The Circles" (which, like "Crash Down," features vocal contributions from longtime Johnny Foreigner associate Thomas Sherwood Nicholls) and "First Word" (which actually has four words, all written by Laidley). At the moment two of the songs from Soweto Slo Mo are streaming in full and two are merely short teasers, so make sure to click over Monday to get the entire thing. In the meantime, however, here is the terrifically affecting "I'll See" embedded below. In related news, Laidley and his bandmates in Birmingham, England-based noise pop juggernaut Johnny Foreigner embark on a European tour with loud, strummy pals Playlounge beginning June 7 in Berlin and wrapping two weeks later at a city and venue TBD (the final confirmed date is June 19 in Utrecht).



>> And yet we are not done mentioning Johnny Foreigner. It seems that the band's guitar tech, who we only know by the first name James, has a bedroom pop project of his own called Mutes. The project has just borne fruit in the form of an impressive digital EP titled, well, EP. Mutes jokingly describes itself as "proper B-Town lad-rock grit-pop lash-monster" at YouTube, one of the two places the EP is streaming, but in truth the collection spans pastoral, Flying Saucer Attack-styled shoegaze, spacey acoustic reveries and more straightforward electropop sounds. The highlight of the collection is the curiously titled "M.P.D.G.," a title that reveals little. But the song takes the tambourine-spangled free jangle of The Feelies' "When Company Companies" and tones it down, making it more mysterious and inviting at the same time, like the sound of a far-off, late-night beach party that you can't get close to no matter how long you walk toward it. "M.P.D.G." is trailed by an even quieter and more mysterious (yet mildly psychedelic) number called "Port Sunlight," with inscrutable, echoed vocals and softly bending guitar lines tugging the listener along a beautiful melody buffeted by a light drone in the background. Closer "Smother" is a more uptempo pop number that proves Mutes has more than an admirable skill for crafting quiet psych balladry; instead "Smother" builds a firmament of percolating guitar loops into a colorful cloud while a danceable beat pushes layered vocals and simple, pretty harmonies. This debut collection from Mutes is remarkable, and we hope that EP is but a small taste of what the project has in store; it's certainly one of the best surprises we've encountered yet in 2013. Stream it below.

Today's Hotness: Dangerous Ponies, Johnny Foreigner, Fiocz

>> Veteran Philly-based indie pop concern Dangerous Ponies are knee-deep in the hoopla of a massive, six-week spring tour to promote its latest release, the EP Tenderheart. The four-song collection, produced and co-engineered by ex-Algernon Cadwallader guitarist Joe Reinhart, includes the title track as well as the tunes "Sparks," "California" and "Dogfite," and it was released digitally March 8. Tenderheart will be released on 7" vinyl March 27, just days before the collective founded and fronted by Chrissy Tashjian blows into Boston for what will surely be a barn-burner of a show at some place called Discovery Zone with white-hot Boston aggro-twee trio Earthquake Party!. Incidentally, Ms. Tashjian is abetted by a half-dozen "friends, family and lovers" (Facebook's words, not ours, LOL) including the five-different-band-having, wholly righteous dude Evan Bernard on guitar and vocals. The EP boasts invigorating pop numbers notable as much for their punk energy as they are for the creative arrangements, vocal harmonies (particularly those sunshiney ahhhhhhs on "Sparks," and the layered interplay in the brilliant chorus of "California.") and pro performances that elevate Dangerous Ponies' music far above the realm of anything one might refer to as "pop-punk." The admixture is significantly enhanced by the depth provided by Reinhart, et al.'s imaginative production, but goddamn if plain writing awesome songs doesn't help a whole lot, too (srsly, have you seen this? / spot the Ampere T). Tenderheart, as we noted supra, is already available digitally now and pre-orders for the vinyl issue (as well as orders for the digital) are being taken through the Dangerous Ponies Bandcamp yert right here. Stream the entirety of the delightful EP via the embed below. Complete spring tour dates can be inspected right here. Dangerous Ponies released a self-titled debut full-length in Jan. 2011, and the Dr. Ponie Medicine Ponie EP in 2009, both of which are also available via Bandcamp.



>> Earlier this evening Birmingham, England-based noise-pop heroes Johnny Foreigner finally revealed the full skinny vis a vis its recently promised mini-album. The self-recorded and self-produced short set is titled Manhattan Projects, and 22 very lucky fans snapped up in minutes the physical version of same, much to our chagrin (you turn your back from the Internet for ONE MINUTE to feed your kid...). That tangible manifestation of Manhattan Projects packages "4 unique 8" x 6" photos from our November trip to America and Canada, with hand drawn bastardiasations and special effects by Lewes" (guitarist Lewes Herriot) along with a download of six songs. Fortunately for the rest of us, the music is also available sans the photo set. As we reported earlier this month, the half-dozen songs are re-worked version of older tunes with tweaked names alongside some new tunes. So the Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything highlight "(Don't) Show Us Your Fangs" becomes "(Don't) Throw Us Your Slang;" the recent EP standout track "3hearts" becomes "Free Starts" (a version that includes a performance from the inimitable Jack Pop of Alcopop! Records himself); and the 2008 single "Eyes Wide Terrified" becomes "Ice Slide Terrordive;" etc. Manhattan Projects, so named for a comic book that as best we can tell has the same premise as one of our many favorite Michael Paré films, is clotted with gems, but definitely hang around until the end for the stirring, even-quieter-than-the-rest closer "Riff Clitchard (Cursed Version)." The tune commences with a hypnotic guitar arpeggio and a subdued vocal from bassist Kelly Southern and then breaks down like a crumbling, old-world automaton -- it reminds us of the crushing final number, "Yr Loved," from the brilliant 2010 EP You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears And That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With The Sky So Clear And Sea So Calm. Listen to the entirety of the new collection via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to purchase, which we highly recommend you do. Johnny Foreigner has promised two more releases this year, and Manhattan Projects has us even more excited for them than you would normally expect out of us, rabid love for Johnny Foreigner and all.



>> After selling out of its debut release almost entirely on pre-orders earlier this year, fledgling London-based experimental music label Glass Reservoir returns next month with a full-length from Zurich-based electronic music producer Fiocz. The 10-song collection, titled Social Cognition, will be issued under the catalog number TGGR002 in a limited edition of 50 CDs and as a digital download. Fiocz, according to Glass Reservoir, "is an innovative experimental analogue modular synth composer who builds intricate compositions one patchcord at a time." As we alluded to supra, Glass Reservoir's initial release, Benjamin Shaw's spooky, buzzing Summer In The Box Room, sold out quickly. With certain of its compositions (particularly "Dysphoria") touting almost conventional rhythms, Social Cognition is perhaps even more accessible, so we expect it will be snapped up by fans of thoughtful abstract music in a similarly expedient fashion. Indeed, Fiocz's tracks convey their own odd sense of groove that frames patient, shaded ambient drones that are sourced in part from field recordings of Fiocz's work, home and "surrounding environments." The result recalls elements of the work of electronic producers a decade ago, such as the more subdued productions of bigs such as Squarepusher (we're thinking "My Fucking Sound") or even not-so-bigs such as Lawrence ("Titel 4"). Social Cognition will be released April 29. Stream via the embed below the album track "Subtyping," a pensive mecha-groover which clicks and stammers and hums with much solemnity. Pre-orders for Social Cognition will be taken beginning March 29, and it is our advice that if you want this thing you pre-order early and often.