Everything happens for a reason. Like…landing here on this Indie Dojo page. You might not be able to explain how you got here and you really don’t have to. Just going with the flow. You never know where the new music discovery adventure will take you.
Death in the Afternoon, who are earnestly named after an Ernest Hemingway novel, is a Swedish joint collaboration dabbling in the highly addictive combination of 80’s washed synth-pop, indie and shoegaze. Already displaying a tasteful pop maturity beyond what their modest 7 track catalog would suggest, we got our hands on DITA’s latest single “We Don’t Have To Go Out Tonight” before anyone else and it weaves wonderfully within their stylish sonic design. Much like its predecessors, the third single off of their impending self-titled LP, which is due out October 30th on Summer Heart’s Sommarhjärta label, remains airy, dreamy, craftily arranged, filled with stunning vocal play form the pair and all the while sporting enough hooky melody to have us swooning for the rest of the week. Furthering everything along, “We Don’t Have To Go Out Tonight”‘s layers of interloping male and female vocals compliment each other superbly by creating a soft yet powerful veil over the complete composition. Just beautiful stuff, really.
Clearly, the duo simply known as Christian & Linda have synced their artistic measures perfectly and landed as one of our favorite burgeoning indies to emerge on our radar this year. Stream Death In The Afternoon’s latest single “We Don’t Have To Go Out Tonight” above in the form of a shiny new ‘TMN Premiere’, and be on the lookout for the pair’s debut LP soon.
The creative process is a fickle beast. There are countless factors that can adversely affect you – from work, to romance, to the very environment that surrounds you. We certainly understand these trials and tribulations, to a degree, even though what we’re doing is on a much simpler level than creating music.
Crywolf recently experienced a collective of aforementioned factors, which lead him to do something completely outside the box. Yes, plenty of artists, whether they be writers, painters, or musicians, have gone to a secluded spot, far away from society, to draw some inspiration. Few have chosen to fly halfway across the globe to obtain said inspiration. The end result for Crywolf is a body of work known as Cataclasm, which was written in a village in Iceland.
Fans of Crywolf will once again find themselves pleasantly lost in the vast soundscapes, and that gorgeous vocal tone that they’ve come to love and appreciate over the years. Those who haven’t crossed paths with this brilliant, young musician, will have their eyes and ears perk up at the hauntingly beautiful collection of songs.
To highlight this life and art-changing experience, Crywolf has put together a mini documentary series, which kicks off here, today, on The Music Ninja. The song featured in the video is “Rising, Rising,” which will be found on this upcoming LP.
The first episode, Lásabrjótur (Lock-breaker), represents breaking free of the norms and standards that I am used to in my music. It documents the process of getting to Iceland, sourcing equipment, and trying not to freeze to death.
Photo credits: Elise Mackay
Portland’s Jason Burns has been creating quite the ripple effect with his music as of late. The adept dance producer always carries with him a gracefully emotive touch to a unique blend of club and house music, and luckily for us to start our week, we’ve got his latest single before anyone else: “Everything” featuring the honeyed vocals of London based singer/songwriter Cybil. “Everything” is a smooth and suffuse blend of the UK club sound etched with little pieces of jackin’ garage, soulful deep corners, late 80’s house soul and even a smidgen of classic dubstep wobble on its rolling hook that quite simply has us begging for more. Needless to say, we’re quite consumed with Jason Burns more club-directed side.
With past releases already on sought after institutions like Nurvous, Anabatic and RAM; Burns has once again teamed up with one of our absolute favorite dance-only imprints: tastemaking cult U.K. label Love & Other Records to drop his latest tune on us, which has only supplemented our collective excitement. Already with past support from the likes of Hannah Wants, Skream & Subsoul “Everything” looks to continue on Burns’ viral trajectory and will see official release on September 25th through Traxsource and all other retailers on October 9th. Until then though, TMN is the place to be for Jason Burns & Cybil’s collaboration “Everything”. Stream above.
As we glance back on the greatness that was the weekend, it’s important to have an ample amount of laid back tunes to ease us into the start of the work week. Thankfully, for us, Antwerp-based Babel has his signature “hangover chill” persona all over this brand new remix.
After a few stellar remixes, and an impressive original, this up-and-coming producer has his sight set on a deliciously lush remix of the widely popular “Tennessee.” Taking well-crafted samples of kiiara’s glowing vocals, and key elements from Felix Snow’s original production, Babel has crafted something that pays an artful homage to the original, yet carries through his own distinctive style.
Driven by a gorgeous piano melody, and light, airy percussion, this re-imagination will surely kick your week off properly, as well as find a way into your regular “Chill Out” playlist.
The Chill Dojo reaches another milestone this week clocking over episode #150. While there won’t be any fanfare in our delivery, there’s no shortage of creative flair on display once again. We’ve seen a lot of talent emerge over the journey, so it’s only fitting that the honors of kicking off this special edition goes to a blissful remix from rising youngster Kidswaste. He’s featured in a number of recent playlists, but his delicate work on Kultur’s ‘Take it Slow’ is more than deserving of first mention here. Soaking in vibes and lush soundscapes, the serene melody emits that magical floating feeling that embodies the very reason we dedicate our time to this playlist every week. As far as our other passions go, we’re all about smooth synths and silky vocals, and that’s exactly what Sydney-based producer Oshan delivers in his latest original ‘Dafty’. The slick beat laid down is on point from the get go, working in perfect harmony with the lyrical flow of Krue to create a tune that just beckons you to sing along.
On that note, this next one from Gnash is a straight up anthem, combining with the masterful production of AObeats for one hell of an addictive track. That hook was just made to be belted out in unison with a festival crowd, with the chill beat doing the rest of the work in getting everybody moving as one. There’s no doubt that ‘Weight In Gold’ has that same powerful quality in spades, and while we’ve featured more than our fair share of remixes so far, every new week never fails to deliver another interpretations that just needs to be shared. One listen to this future-filled effort from Ekali and we’re sure you’ll agree. We started the write-up with a recent name in the Dojo, but we had to end it with a group that’s been around well before our first edition. Miami Horror have been smashing out hits for years, but this week they showed they’re just as good taking on the big songs from other artists as well. This cover of ‘Sober’ is even better than we could have imagined, casting a wave of glorious summer feelings over a track that needed no help in getting hearts racing.
150 down but there’s no end in sight as far as the quality of music goes. We hope you continue to enjoy this week after week. Peace out.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past week, chances are you’ve already heard about the fact that Drake and Future have decided to join forces for a brand new mixtape titled What a Time To Be Alive. Though speculation around the existence of the joint effort ran rampant earlier in the week, Aubrey confirmed the project’s release date, album art and name through Instagram yesterday. After premiering the entire 11 track compilation during Drizzy’s OVO Sound Radio show earlier today, the duo has finally unleashed the full project on iTunes. Executive produced by Metro Boomin, What a Time To Be Alive also includes additional contributions from the likes of Southside, Boi-1da and of course Noah “40” Shebib. Follow the link below to stream the album through Apple Music and check out the tracklist after the jump.
