2014 Hype: Realize You - Empress Of

It seems almost impossible to get any information about Empress Of, which is kind of ridiculous because despite her aloof approach to PR she is screaming for some cross-over success. With slinky indie sass meets snappy synth pop melodies it's hard to figure how you could not love every one of the handful of tracks Lorely Rodriguez has put out as Empress Of.

Rodriguez is Brooklyn based and appears to divide her singing between English and Spanish, with her Systems EP featuring two tracks in each language. That EP is good - Hat Trick being a particular highlight. But the track that has me most excited and caught my attention in the first place is the the single she released towards the end of last year, Realize You. There's a high-art angle to all of this - a sort of synesthesia that comes from Rodriguez's experiments with colour, as explained on Dazed Digital last year when they interviewed her.

Realize You is a beautifully slinky yet stumbling and obsessive record. Soft bubbling electronic melodies and those gorgeous slightly Germanic, slightly techno drums. It is Rodriguez's vocals that steal the show though, her obsession shining through, scary yet alluring: I want to be your boyfriend / and I want to be your girlfriend / and I want to take you there / and I want to watch you do it.

1 November. . .Iceland Airwaves, Reykjavic 2 November. . .Pitchfork Paris 3 November. . .Hit the City Festival, Eindhoven 5 November. . .Birthdays, London 14 November. . .El Plaza Condesa, Mexico City 16 November. .

Check out Hat Trick below:

SYSTEMS A 1 Hat Trick 2 No Means No B 1 Tristeza 2 Camisa Favorita PREORDER via DOUBLE DENIM (World ex. North America) http://doubledenimrecords.bigcartel.com/product/dd019-empress-of-systems-ep PREORDER via TERRIBLE (North America) http://terriblerecords.bigcartel.com/product/empress-of-systems-ep http://www.facebook.com/empressof https://twitter.com/empressoff

There is also quite a bit more on the Empress Of Soundcloud page and a rather surreal video for Champagne:

This is probably the last in my series of posts on artists I'm tipping for big things in 2014. You can read the rest here and check out my Spotify playlist containing some of the bands best songs (and some bands I haven't had time to cover) here.

2014 Hype / Stream: Brain - Banks

I'm already about 57% in love with Banks, and I barely know anything about her. Born and based in LA she started to gain attention last year when she toured in support of The Weeknd and released a couple of pretty stunning EPs last year. Her sound isn't a million miles from The Weeknd's, but definitely benefits form Banks' femininity - this is rough edged indie R&B and I can't wait for an album. It doesn't hurt matters that just looking at her makes my eyes hurt.

All of Banks' material to date has been pretty stellar but her latest track Brain, produced by Shlomo, kind of blows them away:

iTunes: http://po.st/BanksBrain Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/1ryZH6Cu7CTEArHpPWUFC2 www.facebook.com/hernameisbanks twitter.com/hernameisbanks @banksbanksbanks www.hernameisbanks.com https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shlohmo/215424843565 twitter.com/shlohmo @shlohmo http://shlohmo.tumblr.com BANKS "LONDON" EP Now Available - PURCHASE HERE: smarturl.it/banksep UK HEADLINE TOUR // COACHELLA // GOVERNORS BALL and more tour dates up at: http://hernameisbanks.com/shows

Whilst you are here, check out Warm Water and This Is What It Feels Like:

Don't forget to check out the rest of my 2014 hype here, and listen to the Spotify playlist here.

2014 Hype / Video: Hide - FKA Twigs

FKA Twigs was getting all sorts of hot love in 2013 following the release of her excellent track Water Me. There is something intriguingly oblique about both London-based artist Tahliah Barnett's music and identity but based on the amount of hype building for her forthcoming material, increased fortunes seem somewhat guaranteed.

This live video courtesy of label Young Turks and Dazed Digital doesn't pack quick the same musical punch for me but it sure proves FKA Twigs packs Personality with a capital-P.

If you haven’t done so already check out the video for Water Me:

More hype here. Listen to more hyped songs on Spotify.

Album Review: Total Strife Forever - East India Youth

William Doyle is East India Youth and he is another artist currently on my 2014 list of artists to get hyped about... Only unlike the others, he's already dropped an album this year: Total Strife Forever.

Doyle has graduated into semi-concept album territory on Total Strife Forever. Having previously fronted folky indie diversion Doyle & The Fourfathers there was an understandable expectation that he would create an album of songs. Instead what we have is the debut album from his new identity, East India Youth. Doyle has taken inspiration from his own burgeoning musical maturity, formed hanging out in London's strangely clinical yet industrial docklands district East India.

Total Strife Forever - East India Youth

Total Strife Forever isn't an album of songs. It borrows from the approach of David Bowie's Berlin trilogy, mixing instrumentals amongst songs to create a cinematic, almost soundtrack-like flow to the album. The Berlin trilogy were famously produced by Brian Eno, and his same influence looms as large here over it did on one of 2013‘s best albums - Jon Hopkins' Immunity. And now Eno allegedly turns up to check out East India Youth concerts.

The album's title is an intriguing riff on Foals' Total Life Forever that attempts to capture the sense of overwhelming stress that consumed Doyle when making this album. He concedes that naming your album after a contemporary and successful band may be a mistake but seems determined to set himself obstacles and then effortlessly smash them down. That title itself is applied to four instrumentals that punctuate the album like fizzy intakes of breath, and they form much of the structure.

There is an interesting thing happening within this style of electronic music - it feels more reserved than the kind of music that normally attempts to expand out from electronic music. There is a clear crossover potential here, yet as with Hopkins, a brave purity in the album's more electronic moments. This isn't an overtly polluted take on electronic music. Hinterland is intense yet minimal, an extended breakdown and crescendo that comes ready-made for dance floors... Yet feels destined to spill out beyond them.

Yet mixed in with all this technology is a so much humanity. Dripping Down is an optimistic and hymn-like piece that mirrors the confused loneliness of Looking For Someone. The greatest realisation of Boyle's attempts to blend thinking with feeling comes on the somewhat staggering Heaven, How Long - a six-minute long Krautrock track that feels intimate yet epic. It is a jewel in a somewhat marvellous debut album.
 
Total Strife Forever is out now, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links]. Listen on Spotify below:

2014 Hype: Jungle

More hype for your ears in the form of Jungle, the mysterious duo who have been hyped for the last few months of 2013 and seemed destined to tip over into the big time in 2014. There's a slinky funk to their sound that melds smooth soul with an trace of aggressiveness. Think OutKast meets TV On The Radio.

They also make pretty awesome videos. Enjoy.

Don't forget to check out the 2014 hype Spotify playlist and the other posts in this series.