ISSUE #2
Studie EP - Teebs
Teebs teams up with Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) to bring the chillest of energies to your Friday!
To be completely honest, Teebs is one of if not my favorite artist under the Brainfeeder label - actually that’s not fair, I love them all. But Teebs has a special spot in my heart after hearing him for the first time when he opened for Flying Lotus back in 2013 in San Francisco.
In anticipation for his upcoming record, Anicca (Set for release on October 25 via Brainfeeder), Mtendere Mandowa AKA Teebs, released his Studie EP after a nearly 5 year gap between his 2014 release of Estara and now. Teaming up with Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox/Panda Bear, they deliver a fresh sound that is equal parts beautiful, sad, and surreal.
The second track on the EP, Mirror Memory, is Teebs true-to-form. His signature beats, string samples, and synths culminate in a mesmerizing voyage of introspection. I’m hungry for the new album and cannot wait.
Mtendere Mandowa aka Teebs, photo by Brent Waterworth
Teebs will be performing in San Francisco on November 29th at Great American Music Hall. Get tickets here.
Check out the EP and let us know how it hits you!
♥ Mando
Komorebi - Slenderbodies
The latest tender release from Los Angeles-based velvet whisperers is surprising and satisfying in all the right ways.
Max Vehuni and Benji Cormack of Slenderbodies. Image courtesy of Soundcloud.
I won’t lie - the first time I heard the music of Max Vehuni and Benji Cormack, I was on the defensive. Acoustic pop from LA isn’t exactly in short supply, and the duo’s playful, hushed sound struck eerily close to the niche Glass Animals has so successfully carved out for themselves. Intrigued, I paid attention to the steady stream of releases coming from the pair - singles like Anemone and Gray quickly found their way into my steady rotation, and when 2016’s 8-track Sotto Voce released, I found to my surprise that I had become a huge fan.
Layering sunset-colored staccato guitar under clicking, snapping and popping percussive arrangements, Slenderbodies’ sound is modern and minimalist in all the ways I love - and that’s before you get to the velvet vocals. Easily the most recognizable facet of a Slenderbodies joint are smoldering falsetto whispers that drift like spidersilk and cut like a kunai knife. Looped and layered or dancing solo over reverb-drunk guitar grooves, it’s undeniable that the vocal style has immediate pull - even if Glass Animals made it popular first.
Komorebi is the pair’s second LP - it takes its name from a Japanese word popularly translated as “sunlight filtering through leaves” - and it marks steady progress in the band’s sonic Darwinism. My most beloved textures and vocal tones are still there, but shiny new experiments abound, appearing like sunbeams tangled amidst tree trunks. Belong incorporates what sounds like an effected saxophone in the second half - Moods surfaces interlocking guitars that recall Tycho and an exquisite vocal tremolo that sends shivers down my spine.
All 11 tracks bring something to the table - do yourself a favor and take the stroll through these woods-at-dusk.
Slenderbodies play San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop on September 27th and Holocene in Portland on the 30th. Grab your tickets here.
♥ Zach
