A new year, another Monday of jams from the CL music team… here's what we're listening to this week:
Ray – Spies On Bikes, Man Overboard EP (2012)
Spies On Bikes is the brainchild of local musician, actor, and filmmaker Nathan Cochran, and his project's debut EP — Man Overboard — is already competing as frontrunner for best local album of 2012 (Palantine’s Bruise Your Illusion gets a shout-out in that category, too). "Long Walks and Recorded Talks" cleverly samples Woody Allen rom-com Midnight In Paris, and the nine-song effort is rife with penetrating production that ranges from glitchy synth-pop ("Wild Behavior," "Shore Leave," and "Catahoula"), to colorful instrumentals ("Sun Showers"), to airy sing-alongs ("Love Like Hours").
The EP is Cochran's first major release since losing his desk job and subsequently having to sell all of his music equipment four years ago, and it was finely mastered by his roommate Jeremy Powell, who releases his own music uner the Auterkeia moniker. Man Overboard’s physical release was funded by a very modest Kickstarter campaign and includes hand-painted packaging as well as two tracks not present in the digital version. The effort is currently streaming at Bandcamp, and more info on the physical release is available here.
Evan — Ratatat, LP4 (2010)
Hard-hitting and habit-forming, this instrumental twosome gets me through the week. Their phenomenal hooks and electronic explorations combine the best of IDM and hip-hop beats. With a mix of the complex and visceral, sexy and brooding, this group has got to be one of the most re-playable artists in my collection — and this album is as solid as any other.
This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2012.