best coast

best coast ~ boyfriend (lindstrøm remix)

dancing queen

diva

diva - the glittern end (alt. vinyl-self realeased, 2011)

"The Glitter End" is Diva’s first solo shot and it’s a fantastic piece of work. 80s noir rubs shoulders with vibrant tropicália and mutated pop forms in this mysterious netherworld (...) “Glow Worm” is a case in point, as its steel drums, fuzz guitar and bubbling bass provide the perfect counterpoint for Diva’s captivating vocals. In contrast, the title track slow dances across the L.A. skyline, an analogue caress of whose lyrics the city’s mystical adventurer Jack Parsons would doubtless have approved. Leaving the stratosphere entirely, “Andromeda’s Lullaby" is a wonderfully woozy interstellar excursion, collapsing and re-emerging from waves of vintage synths. The album is interspersed with dizzying instrumentals that maintain the pace of the record beautifully. Take the tribal thump of “Spinning Vines” or the closing jangle and drift of “Highest Cloud” that leaves us driving up to the canyons as the Sun rises. Like I said, it’s a trip, but in Diva we have a true original as our guide". picadilly
a
foto: marlon kowalski
a

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pocahaunted

pocahaunted ~ threshold 7'' (not not fun 2010)

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, bands to solo projects, it’s all the same arc. And here it is, the final RIP action by star-crossed Not Not Fun institution Pocahaunted and the only recorded document of the final triforce-vocal line-up featuring Leyna Noel on keys/crooning/dance magic. The results blaze/amaze. “Threshold” was written on the road and melts through a river mistress intro before revving into a tense kraut-funk burner with catchy femme-soul vocables cascading down from every side. The B, “Echolocation,” is a tranced ghost-reggae comedown ballad and classic slow-dance live staple. Nimble bass maneuvering by whimsy princess Diva Dompe leads the melody up through the choruses into the torch-song bridge climax that leaves everybody on the floor..." not not fun

foto: eric paltell

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topaz rags

topaz rags ~ the crown center 7" (not not fun 2010)

"West Coast ghost squad Topaz Rags stalk back into the deadlights, ...recorded in the heart of winter in a room with one blue light bulb, “The Crown Center” is pure nightprowler music: quaking bass, grime-jazz keys, dusty drums, witch choirs floating through the smog and into sleeping homes with the power lines cut. The sound of crime to come. The flip (“You Go On”) slips deeper into the psych-psycho psyche, a bleached-brain riff-rhythm grinding away endlessly while voices and electric piano stabs arc across the stereo field, raining ash. A grimmer twist on the Topaz formula, the dreamer’s dream turned dark." not not fun

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la vampires & zola jesus

la vampires & zola jesus ~ s/t (not not fun 2010)

"...overflowing with damaged dub and desert ghost vocals, the ideal soundtrack for a summer spent melting in the heat on the porch" omg vynil

"La Vampires is the latest project from the equally prolific Amanda Brown, who doubles as an active member of Pocahaunted, & the seductive charm of nu-goth singer Zola Jesus. The duo have combined styles for some new haunted melodies, rumbles into motion with those familiarly smudged out, indecipherable vocals and evaporating drum machines but there's a heavy bass groove and some ghoulish melodic developments set to balance out any of the more noxiously no-fi elements" boomkat

foto: nequest

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best coast

our deal

'...I wish you would tell me how you really feel'

canción del año, de la vida, fleetwood mac meets neko case

"Here's a nice surprise for a Tuesday afternoon: a new song by Bethany Cosentino, a.k.a. lo-fi beach-popper Best Coast. "Our deal" from her forthcoming full-length debut. The tune is of considerably higher fidelity than what we're used to from Cosentino, and features a lovely country-ish melody"

pocahaunted

pocahaunted ~ make it real (not not fun 2010)

"After a six-month hiatus, a complete line-up overhaul, and a full year-plus of only playing shows and writing songs and amassing totemic objects, finally Pocahaunted return to the recorded realm with their first album since 2008. Time flies when yr having not not fun and all that. Make It Real collects seven of the band’s 2009 live staples for a 40-minute-ish collage of basement body music, garage dub damage, outsider funkadelic sprawl, voodoo rhythm workouts, duo femme soul vocal dynamics, dripping gold sweat, and dream fulfillment. Recorded barefoot and shirtless and direct to tape at Green Machine Studio in summer ’09 by M. Geddes Gengras and featuring guest bamboo sax by jazzmaster Alex Gray (of Dreamcolour/Deep Magic) and mastered by James Plotkin. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with warped LA post-Parliament utopia artwork by vision wizard Spencer Longo" not not fun

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best coast

best coast ~ dreaming my life away

foto: aimee brodeur

uuuuu...uuuu

my estrogeneration

va ~ my estrogeneration lp (not not fun 2009)

"First ever not not fun vinyl compilation finds the spotlight landing fairly on the fairer sex, and the glare is glorious. 11 diverse femme musical energies corralled across 12 inches of black vinyl, all exclusive contributions, and the breadth of zones and interzones traversed is a beautiful thing to hear. Carry on my wayward non-sons. LPs in jackets with artwork by Pocahaunted bassist/scholar Diva Dompe, plus a full-color double-sided insert. Edition of 500. This year's Estrogeneration includes: Zola Jesus, Tickley Feather, Pocahaunted (vintage unused track from Gold Miner's Daughters sessions), Inca Ore, Topaz Rags, HNY, Talk Normal, Islaja (featuring Samara Lubelski and Blevin Blectum), L.A. Vampires, U.S. Girls & Valet" nnf

foto: mikaylah bowman

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topaz rags

topaz rags ~ capricorn born again (not not fun 2009)

"Grey clouds stay grey. Low light situations birth low-lit moods. It's all bummer clockwork. West Coast lurk-jazz triad Topaz Rags return to vinyl with their debut long player, Capricorn Born Again, an eight-song comedown recorded/mixed from spring-to-fall of '09 via a complex 4-track/boombox assemblage method. Everything creaks and hisses, there's smoke in the air, players at the end of their ropes, lyrics washing over faded raga ballads, slinky electric piano bar depressions, shadow gauze cavern pop. The bell jar is half empty, obviously. Slow dive and sink in. Black vinyl LPs (mastered by Pete Swanson) in jackets designed by Amanda." not not fun

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best coast

best coast - make you mine 7'' (group tightener 2009)

"Group Tightener is putting out Best Coast's new 7" featuring four sweet fuzzed out summer jams ideal for those of us still clinging to the last remnants of this lamented season.In an interview on Olive Music Bethany described this 7" as a little moodier: "The songs on there are a little slower paced, and the lyrics are definitely more angsty." As for her overall artistic vision, she just wants "everything to sound really sweet and poppy, but also really fuzzy and sort of dark. Like the sun coming out after an epic rain storm or something." Lovely." no conclusion

foto: the gentleman amateur

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siren

siren ~ living light (buried valley 2007)

"...Under the Siren pseudonym, Bethany of Pocahaunted takes a step back from the duo spirit jams to ride upon a beam of melancholy that is spiraling slowly into silence. “Living Light” relies on a simple palette consisting of Bethany’s lovely voice, a guitar, and plenty of reverb for twenty glorious minutes. Both tracks are like a looped descent into the spirit world tapped by Pocahaunted but approached with much more trepidation and a lot less volume..." foxy digitalis

foto: aaron macdonald

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best coast

best coast ~ where the boys are (blackest rainbow 2009)

"OK, so there's been much talk about this tape. This is the debut solo release from Bethany Cosentino, who was formerly known as one half of Pocahaunted. Here Bethany heads solo style with some super sweet summertime lo-fi beach pop gems. There are some slight touches of Pocahaunted memories in there, with Bethany's total killer relaxed vocals and simplistic guitar jamming sounding as great as ever but in the new setting of late evening red sky beach bum bliss. 5 songs in just under 15 minutes to blast on the beach on your 80s ghetto blaster. Limited to 200 hand numbered copies, full colour covers, pro dubbed cassettes." animalpsi

photo: alison scarpulla

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yes i love you...

best coast

"Thanks to Porch of the Mystics for the heads up on this new "lazy haze" beach blanket lo-fi pop from Bethany Cosentino of Pocahaunted. Bethany’s calling the group Best Coast, and she says we can expect "songs about summer and the sun and the ocean and being a lazy creep," with "drums, beach boys bass lines, and other amazing things" added by her friend Bobb Bruno. Look for a tape on Blackest Rainbow and a 7" on San Diego’s awesome Art Fag Recordings, which may or may not include this song, in the near future" noise loop

foto: ryan mcginley

sun was high (so was i)

in my room

up all night

pocahaunted

 pocahaunted - live from the new age (not not fun 2009)

"What are the secret origins of Pocahaunted?...I guess there are no cool secret origins of the band. The name was in a dream of mine, and weirdly in that dream, I was in a band with Bethany. I barely knew her then, we’d never played music together and didn’t have any plan to start. I called her to hang out the next day and she was sitting on my couch, I just looked into her eyes and said ‘Your in this band with me now, it’s called Pocahaunted’. She laughed at me (obviously) but it worked." amanda brown

po ca haun ted ! sólo puedo reafirmar mi devoción por ellas (así da gusto despertarse por las mañanas, gracias dronea, dronea:)

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pocahaunted

pocahaunted - passage (with bobb bruno & cameron stallones) (troubleman unlimited 2009)

"The Pocahaunted whole album is bathed in a rich, ambiguous echo from which Bethany and Amanda's peyote trip vocal entanglements ebb and flow. In keeping with the African/Native American/other influences that tend to permeate their work, you'll hear plenty of ceremonial-type percussive elements along with strange, droning guitar harmonies that bring to mind Indian ragas and the more out-there work of the Velvet Underground in equal measure. Tremendous." boomkat

"Great new mini LP from this female psych duo, joined here by Bobb Bruno and Cameron Stallones. Four long tracks that combine thudding, nod-out acid rock rhythms with wordless choirs of abandon and power vocals extrapolated from hypnagogic 1980s pop. Something in the achingly elongated guitar lines and orchestras of throat that is just supremely addictive, joining the dots between Father Yod and Brother Louie in ways you never dreamed possible. Pocahaunted are at the absolute peak of their powers right now." volcanic tongue

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topaz rags

topaz rags - tarot harem 7" (not not fun 2008)

"Topaz Rags is a new late night downer trio devoted to mapping these sour times and long goodbyes. this is their debut vinyl release featuring members of pocahaunted and robedoor. 2 sides of bleak piano and post-beatnik ruin. in hand-silkscreened sleeves with die-cut backs. edition of 250." nnf

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topaz rags

topaz rags - california ash cs (not not fun 2008)

"People in the West blame weird moods on a string of things: the wind (those Santa Anas), the end (of the country), the moon (crescent is cursed), even the movies. But it doesn’t matter which is right/real, because the effect is the same, freaked souls in a trapped environment, lotuses floating on a lake littered with bodies. Topaz Rags is a new late night downer trio devoted to mapping these sour times and long goodbyes, and California Ash is their 2-sided elegy for the Golden State’s darkest ghosts, the rich hills full of fire, the day after the kool-aid. Back-alley bass lines plod under smoky piano shadows, drums stalk a straight line in a house with the power out, a trumpet mourns from a warped 78 spinning in the basement. Wasted, grey, drug jazz lost somewhere between Bohren & Der Club Of Gore and some half-destroyed pre-Portishead demo. Gold-on-white pro-dubbed cassettes in spraypainted cases with doomed hippie chick portrait cover photo and bedecked with a hand-cut shred of neon palm tree fabric. Edition of 100." nnf

Topaz Rags son Amanda (Pocahaunted): drums & vocals; Britt: bass & trumpet y Ash: piano & vocals.

foto: ▼ A Fötos alison scarpulla

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tovah olson & pocahaunted

tovah olson & pocahaunted - tovahaunted lp (tovinator 2008)

"Numbered edition of 200 copies on grey vinyl, already sold out at source. Tovahaunted is of course the perfect description of a particular syndrome that affects awkward fan-boys in the wake of seeing Tovah Olson rocking the bandstand but here it also works as cover for a collaboration between Tovah and Pocahaunted that is one of the darkest and most beautifully fucked recordings to come from either camp. Here they carve whole storms of slow-moving feedback, dragging grunting electronics and black ethereal waves of breath through the kind of narcotic formless environs more associated with uk amplifier fetishists like Ashtray Navigations or Skullflower minus anything approaching a riff or a hook. Excellent." volcanic tongue

foto: littlegirlblue

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pocahaunted

pocahaunted ~ chains lp (teardrops 2008)

"Originally the vision for Chains was "fucked up Tom Tom Club palm tree pop" (or something) but, as often happens when Manda & Bethany get in the studio with too much smart water and too many wisecracks, shit changed as soon as the 8-track tape started to roll. Oh well. The results are still rad and weird, 4 diverse songs that dance between post-rocky grooves, shoegaze drama, drugged funk, and Fleetwood Mac. The LP also does a good job of capturing what the Pocahaunted live set was like for most of the spring of '08: torrential, dramatic, rhythmic, estrogenic. Bobb Bruno kicked in some serious arrangement assistance, and pro-friend Josh Klinghoffer helped with some sick drum stumbles too. On champagne pale yellow vinyl, in jackets with art by the band. On Cali Dewitt's labor-of-love Teardrops label." nnf

"We’re not dark people, and we’re not spooky. We like to move and be moved; we like to dance and feel rhythmic. This album just reflects that." amanda

vuelven, y con el espíritu de Fleetwood Mac flotando en Oh Woe, un pequeño homenaje a The Chain de Fleetwood Mac (canción de la vida). ¿o lo habré soñado? :)

 

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