Heave Media

Your Listening Pleasure

A small slice of new music. Fire Engines, Lightspeed Champion and Flying Lotus in this week's YLP.

Fire Engines - Big Gold Dream - Here's a history lesson for you. Early Scottish post-punk band, Fire Engines, only lasted for 18 months, but in their time they subsequently inspired everyone from Franz Ferdinand, to Primal Scream, to The Jesus And Mary Chain as well as countless other bands. The sparse recording of "Big Gold Dream" demonstrates the band's angular guitar riffs, funky bass lines and innovative drumming. Hungry Beat, a compilation of all of their singles, b-sides and recorded songs, showcases Fire Engines at their best and perfectly lays down the post-punk template that many bands have followed since.

Hungry Beat is out now on Acute Records.

Lightspeed Champion - Galaxy of the Lost - Ex-Test Icicles member Dev Hynes is back at it with something completely different from his previous work. With Lightspeed Champion, Hynes explores semi-acoustic folk-pop. If the song "Galaxy of the Lost" sounds like something that might come out on Saddle Creek, it's because it was produced with the label's resident producer, Mike Mogis, along with several other guests from around Omaha, Nebraska. The result combines gorgeous layered vocal melodies, violin, a country-rock bass and drums rhythm and delicate guitar parts reminiscent of Kings of Convenience and Bright Eyes.

Galaxy of the Lost is out now on Domino Records.

Flying Lotus - Tea Leaf Dancers - LA-based electronic music producer (and Adult Swim segue-music-between-shows-maker) Flying Lotus is back at it again. "Tea Leaf Dancers" offers a blend of Portishead style down tempo synthesizers and rhythms with the abrupt beats and subtle effects of Prefuse 73 and the production style of Madlib or J Dilla. The hazy, ambient beat, layered over a sultry female vocal line, results in a mellow groove sure to make you nod your head.

Reset EP is out now on Warp Records.

Posted by Jason Prechtel on Nov 16, 2007 @ 12:00 am