News

[NEW MUSIC] LUSINE'S 'LUCKY NUMBERS'

March 19, 2010

As Lusine, Jeff McIlwain has made a prodigious and lasting contribution to the world of techno with an ever-evolving but ever-pulsing sonic palate. Lucky Numbers: The Ghostly International EPs—out now—collects non-album releases, including 2003’s Push EP, unreleased archival material, new remixes, and more.

Buy the digital full-length release Lucky Numbers: The Ghostly International EPs at The Ghostly Store.

[NEW MUSIC]: MUX MOOL'S 'SKULLTASTE'

March 17, 2010

Impatient fans of Mux Mool’s teaser EP, Viking Funeral, can take heart, as the full-length fruits of his labors will be available for one and all at The Ghostly Store next week. But that 80-minute masterpiece of stylistically polyamorous beats, Skulltaste, is also available now as a special iTunes Preview offering.

For a gratis preview, head over to our goodly friends at RCRD LBL, who are streaming the entirety of Skulltaste now. And for a more varied assortment of Mux Mool material, the man will drop by East Village Radio on Thursday 3/18 on 10pm to unleash some goodies on DJ Still Life’s bass-loving “Worldwide Smash” show—catch Mux Mool’s set live or look for it in the archives.

Buy Mux Mool’s Skulltaste on iTunes.

[FROM THE VAULTS] JAMES T. COTTON'S 'THE DANCING BOX'

March 10, 2010

As a continuation of last week’s FROM THE VAULTS feature (Dabrye’s leftfield hip-hop classic Two/Three), you can’t do any better than 2004’s The Dancing Box, the debut long-player from James T. Cotton. For the uninitiated: James T. Cotton is one of many aliases used by Detroit producer and Ghostly mainstay Tadd Mullinix, who, working under his own name and as Dabrye (among other aliases), covers a shocking amount of stylistic ground, for one man.

JTC is Mullinix’s techno-oriented alias, and The Dancing Box is his ultimate artistic statement, full of squelchy acid splendor, oddball distortion effects, and Detroit futurism. The Dancing Box, in other words, does what Dabrye does for hip-hop and what Tadd Mullinix does for abstraction: pulls together countless disparate threads, ties them up in knots, and gives them an artful, body-moving spin.

Buy James T. Cotton’s The Dancing Box for only $5 at The Ghostly Store.

[NEW MUSIC]: CHOIR OF YOUNG BELIEVERS' 'CLAUSTROPHOBIA'

March 18, 2010

The third single from Choir of Young Believers ’ debut full-length This Is for the White in Your Eyes is a relatively minimal endeavor from the notoriously maximalist Danish collective—but when it comes to the Choir, big things usually come in small packages. A simple oom-pah thump on the bass drum, a cloud of ominous mellotron strings, and Jannis Noya Makrigiannis’ baleful moan is all ‘Claustrophobia’ needs to make its mark—that, and an eerily soaring hook that could turn blood to ice water. The single includes a remix from The Antlers (Frenchkiss) and a cover by Sian Alice Group (The Social Registry).

Choir of Young Believers are currently on tour in the US, with dates in LA, NYC, and in Austin for SXSW. Check all the dates here.

...and download ‘Claustrophobia’ at The Ghostly Store.

[NEW MUSIC]: OSBORNE'S 'THE GHOSTLY REMIXES' 12"

March 5, 2010

Well over a year after the release of Osborne ’s sublime self-titled album on Spectral Sound, and the music still sounds fresh—nostalgic without being overly reverential, accessible, creative dance music with a pervading sense of humor and wonderment. No wonder, then, that Osborne spawned a suite of remixes that rival the originals’ unadulterated creative moxie. Includes remixes from Bullion, Lukid, and Bogdan Raczynski.

Buy Osborne’s The Ghostly Remixes on 12-inch at The Ghostly Store.

[FROM THE VAULTS]: DABRYE'S 'TWO/THREE' (2006)

March 3, 2010

In “From the Vaults”, we dust off a classic Ghostly release that’s particularly ripe for rediscovery, and feature it at a discounted price at The Ghostly Store. This week: Dabrye’s masterpiece of forward-thinking hip-hop, Two/Three.

Tadd Mullinix’s follow-up to the game-changing One/Three (2001) pushes the Dabrye sound forward by several light-years. As Dabrye, Mullinix harnessed the liquid, low-slung beats of instrumental hip-hop, the glitchy, dirt-smudged textures of abstract electronic music, and an indescribable X-factor that, for the purposes of this post, we’ll call “batshit experimentalism”, and squished them all into a thoroughly listenable, immensely influential full-length. Two/Three’s slate of top-shelf guests—from MF Doom to Beans to Waajeed to the immortal Jay Dee—doesn’t hurt its replay value, either.

Buy Dabrye’s Two/Three at The Ghostly Store for only $5 here.

[NEW MUSIC]: BIRDS & SOULS' 'BIRDS & SOULS'

March 2, 2010

Birds & Souls ’ lead single ‘Birds & Souls’ (from the duo’s upcoming debut Birds & Souls 12” on Spectral Sound) is an exuberant track built more for rock shows than dancefloors, charting a journey from giddy, congas-and-claves house to synth-drenched space disco to ecstatic arpeggiated bliss and back again. At “Birds & Souls”’ apex, Birds & Souls member Sergio Giorgini intones “My soul, it weighs a thousand pounds / touch the mountain, touch the ground”—at that moment, the duo seem everywhere at once, their feet stomping out a primal 4-on-the-floor, their heads soaring through the clouds.

Download ‘Birds & Souls’ at The Ghostly Store.

[NEW MUSIC]: GADI MIZRAHI'S 'I CAN NEVER GET ENOUGH' EP

February 25, 2010

Gadi Mizrahi ’s first EP on Spectral Sound, I Can Never Get Enough, embodies the kind of musical promiscuity that informs the parties and label output generated as one half of NYC’s infamous Wolf+Lamb duo. The title track announces itself with a languorous, supple pulse, before introducing a surprising degree of musicality and complexity—the nominal disco of “She Don’t” doesn’t just reward frequent listens, it demands it—for such an effortlessly inviting work. Brisk, fluid funk, a little light jacking, a stellar remix from Lowtec, and endless replayability await.

Purchase Gadi Mizrahi’s I Can Never Get Enough EP on 12-inch vinyl (and/or download) at The Ghostly Store.

[ON TOUR]: CHOIR OF YOUNG BELIEVERS

February 24, 2010

Last year, Denmark’s Choir of Young Believers toured overseas with Mew and headlined their own US tour. In January, they headlined across the UK and continental Europe. This March, Jannis and Co. arrive in America for a brief string of dates (including appearances at SXSW) in a four-piece lineup. The dates are as follows:

3/10 New York, NY @ Union Hall
3/11 New York, NY @ Pianos
3/13 Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theatre
3/17 Austin, TX @ Red 7 (Terrorbird Day Party)
3/17 Austin, TX @ The Galaxy Room Patio (KCRW Showcase)

Choir of Young Believer’s new single, ‘Claustrophobia’, arrives on March 9th. Download The Antler’s remix of the track over at our RCRD LBL blog.

[NEW MUSIC]: PHANTOGRAM'S 'EYELID MOVIES'

February 23, 2010

“Daydreams, the spots you see moving around when your eyes are closed tight, and the shapes you see in the world,” says Phantogram’s Josh Carter, “those are the kinds of things we want to surface in your mind when you hear a Phantogram song.” Equal parts RZA, Blonde Redhead, and Serge Gainsbourg, Saratoga, NY’s Phantogram combine scratchy beats, breathy vocals, and airtight pop songs in ways that will make your head spin. Phantogram’s debut album, Eyelid Movies, is now out on Barsuk on CD, and on Ghostly International exclusively on vinyl.

Buy Phantogram’s Eyelid Movies on vinyl (+ download card) at The Ghostly Store.