GRUNGECAKE

Category: Sound Searching

Sound Searching is a section for music we discover online and feel the need to talk about, highlight and share.

  • Sound Searching: Andrew St James

    Photo: Peter Ellenby
    Photo: Peter Ellenby

    Emerging from the mist.

    At just 18-years-old, Andrew St James is a singer-songwriter whose single just premiered on USA Today and that’s quite remarkable.

    “I am inspired by the odd characters that I call my acquaintances,” St James says of the colorful cast that inhabits the songs on his debut album Doldrums, set for release on September 24th. Hip street folk, Irish immigrants and Mission hipsters star in songs that exist as soundtracks to hard-lived lives. They are tunes that speak with a frank realism and dark sense of humor to kids of St James’s age that are living in a mixed-up world.”

    Just with that statement alone, you can tell that he is far beyond his years. He is a deep boy. Now for more about the song you’re about to hear: “Despite its light qualities, ‘Cassidy’ is a dark song,” he says of the album’s first single, a tune that lives on the fringes of heartbreak. “At the time I wrote it, a former lover of mine had returned to my city. I still loved her, but it was soon evident that she had no intention of seeing me.” Of Doldrums, St James says that “This album is about growing up,” and adds humorously, “Granted, growing up for me consisted of rancid partying, rich girlfriends, and strange mission coffee shop poetry readings.”

    Produced by St James along with veteran Bay Area producer Jim Greer (a platinum record recipient for his work with Foster The People), Andrew St James’s debut album Doldrums will be available this Fall.

    GrungeCake

  • Sound Searching: VerBS

    Image: Suspend Mag
    Image: Suspend Mag

    Now, he’s letting shit fly out of his mouth

    Sounding a little more organized in his thoughts, VerBS, this staple in thetaud emerging rap scene of Los Angeles best known for his work with Project Blowed, which he mentions in the song, displays his growth on “Geyzer” produced by Duke Westlake also featuring Jose Zeta Jones Rios. It delivers a very “chill” and therapeutic Hip-Hop sound. Boom bap, all day.

    VerBS speaks of falling victim to imperfections, being older, wiser, and more confident. It sounds a lot like Frank Ocean is on this track. Rios, if that’s you, honey, you’ve got it.

    Listen to the track and if you’re feeling the track, download it directly from the independent label’s website that made this one possible. For more VerBS, visit his website. He has so much music, we can’t promise you won’t get lost.

    For more VerBS, just click here.

  • Sound Searching: Sinner DC

    Sinner DC

    When I pressed play, I felt like I was writing in OmmWriter.

    More than background music by far, Sinner DC’s seventh album “Future That Never Happened” brings its listeners acoustic tranquility in a time of intense difficulty (Zimmerman verdict). Easily, you can listen through the Swiss trio’s collection of remixes without realizing — and that’s always favorable for us. We listen to music all day. Thankfully, this project includes incredible rearrangements of “Where She Goes”, the second single, created by emerging talent Velveljin (Japan), Lungwah (United Kingdom), Bigeneric (Switzerland) and Colony (Italy). Our favourite has to be Lungwah’s version. It is very different from its original.

    If you have a frame of eagerness for this project or you’ve developed a (new) love for house and ambient music, please download the original track for free and purchase the remixes on Sinner DC’s website. We’ll love you for it. If you need more of an incentive, read more about the collaborators on this release via Sinner DC:

    [quote]We met Mana Haraguchi and Yohei Yamakado aka Velveljin in Kyoto 4 years ago and fell in love with their electro acoustic aesthetic and minimal universe, always with a subtle and sensitive lyrical aspect.[/quote] Their second album “Nostalghia“, inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky’s eponymous movie, is now released on neo-classical Noble Records.

    James aka Lungwah hails from Wales and was first contacted 2 years ago to collaborate a track to the「A compilation for Japan I」 we curated with Villa Magica. He was also behind the excellent (now defunct) Warm Data label, home of inventive electronic music on the western side of Great Britain.

    Behind Bigeneric is Berne-capital-native Marco Repetto, one of the most creative and long-lasting figure in the Swiss music scene. In short, he played in new wave band Grauzone, co-founded acid house label extraordinaire Axodya, had releases on Rephlex and run his own Inzec label. His latest project is called “Alpness“, a delicate ambient infusion of electronics and traditional alpen musik.

    Sebastiano navigate the elusive musical unit Colony from Verona since 2007 and also joined the 「A compilation for Japan I」. His latest release is a “via email” collaboration with Akito Misaki and because Sebastiano likes to share and communicate with you, this and all previous releases are free to download. A taste of his forthcoming album can also be find here.

  • EP: Elle King’s “The Elle King”

    The Elle King EP

    Elle King was signed by newly appointed RCA Chairman Peter Edge. On June 12, 2012, the four-song The Elle King EP was released on RCA / Fat Possum Records. The EP featured the originals “Good To Be A Man,” “Playing For Keeps,” and “No Can Save You,” and a live cover of American female rapper Khia’s 2002 debut lead-off single “My Neck, My Back (Lick It).”

    The EP was recorded in New York and the studio tracks were produced by three separate producers. Andy Baldwin (whose credits include Richard Ashcroft, Björk, and David Gilmour) produced “Good To Be A Man.” Chris DeStefano (whose credits include Carrie Underwood, Howie D, and Kelly Clarkson) produced “Playing For Keeps.”

    Elle King produced “No One Can Save You.” The EP track, “Good To Be A Man,” was originally released as a standalone single on March 13 to iTunes, and issued as a 7” vinyl single on Fat Possum Records on April 24, 2012. The track was inspired by a romantic disaster that occurred while King lived in Copenhagen. She counts writing the track as an artistic breakthrough. The track has been played by KCRW Santa Monica, XPN Philly, and RIF Detroit. The EP’s lead track, “Playing For Keeps,” was chosen as the theme song for VH1’s Mob Wives Chicago series that premiered June 10, 2012 on VH1. The show is a spinoff of VH1’s hit series Mob Wives. — Wikipedia

    For more Elle King, just click here.

  • Sound Searching: Brooke Candy

    Love her or hate her, she really doesn’t care

    If you try to use one word to describe Ms. Candy that word would be. Let me think about it. Okay, I got it. The word that sums her up is Supercalifrgalisticespialidoshous. Brooke Candy is a vivacious 23-year-old that hails from the City of Angels with an "I-don’t-take-shit-attitude" and over-the-top "I’m-sexy-and-I-know-it" style. This young lady is filled with ammo and she’s ready to shoot whoever gets in her way. Most of you may have seen Brooke featured in the wildly popular video for Genesis by Grimes:

    [youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FH-q0I1fJY&h=315]

    In the video, Brooke Candy and her funky style are front and center as she is captured [on video] bikini-clad wielding a sword along the beach and shaking her money-maker in the desert while rocking her signature platform sneakers. Brooke Candy is ready to show the rest of the world what she is made of and with her latest release Das Me she is doing just that. From freak dancing on top of a pink limo in the middle of a residential neighborhood, taking a leisurely stroll in her full get-up on what appears to be the prestigious Rodeo Drive to smoking weed and popping pills in a hotel room. Brooke’s style may not be for every taste. Most people won’t be able to get past her wild looks and drug use, but I see much more than that. I see woman empowerment, taking back the double standards and telling the world to fuck off! [She’s] Literally doing whatever she wants because — hey, at the end of the day — People are going have something negative to say. [You] might as well have fun, right?!

      Let those motherfuckers call you a slut, you know Brooke Candy gotchu.

    For more Brooke Candy, just click here.