"Verisimilitude" is what Brooklyn's Dead Leaf Echo calls their soon to be released EP of high profile remixes. Allowing other noteworthy musicians to re-imagine some of their more well know tracks, the results are creative and dynamic. The Elika mix of "Half Truth" emphasizes a sparse industrial percussion track with rising and falling background vocals, and features an added phrase at the end – “it’s calling out to me – so silent you can see – you tore apart, tore apart – you went through my heart”. “Woogathering” Mark Van Hoen remix opens sans any percussion at all, focusing on a buzzing background while lead vocals are pushed through a similarly buzzy filter. Clean, clock-meter percussion and pulsing synths create further audio motion for the listener. "Half Truth" Spry! remix rises from the misty depths as synth lines trade playfully with cut up and repeated vocal snips. "Act of Truth" Rx Gibbs falling away dub mix presents a full on wall of background vocals with driving percussion front and center. Slithery bass guitar creates an alternate motion while vocals faded in and out of the mix join with rushing synth pads. The EP will be relased on May 31st on Custom Made records, and the band play a release party at Pianos on May 19. - Dave Cromwell
We've always been big fans of Luke Temple, and it's good to see that, together with the Here We Go Magic crew, the man is keeping at it with increasingly beautiful records and videos. The band's new album "A Different Ship" (stream it here) will be out on May 8, and betrays at least a partial return to Luke Temple's more intimate and melodic sound from his solo repertoire - in this regard, lend a ear to "Hard to Be Close," "Alone but Moving" and "Over the Ocean". This is welcome news for fans like us who always thought that in most HWGM material Luke's noteworthy songwriting skills seemed a little sacrificed on the altar of textural experimentation. This doesn't mean that the band's signature hypnotic, impressionistic sound is lost - it's just that these two elements work together better than they did in past records, and this is what makes this album one of the NYC highlights of the year so far. Indeed, this collection also features songs more in line with the band's past releases ("Make Up your Mind", "I Believe in Action"), which follow on the steps of brainy-pop icons like Brian Eno and The Feelies, but there's definitely a balance here, also betrayed by the almost perfect alternation of melodic songs and less traditional ones.The just released video of "How Do I Know," telling the story of a rejected dancing robot that ends up revitalizing an older man's appreciation for life, seems to reflect on this brain/heart, mechanic/organic dichotomies and somehow bring them to unity. - PDG
