Daily MPfree: Pagan Wanderer Lu

It’s not often you get a song that could be described as “an ode to procreation” – ironically, it’s not particularly sexy subject matter. But Pagan Wanderer Lu‘s “A Girl Named Aeroplane” is exactly that, a poetic song about conceiving and raising a child in a world beset by ideological rifts. It’s very pretty, both in concept and execution, like much of his new album “European Monsoon”, which came out last week.

Snipe Issue #2 MPfree Mixtape

With issue three pretty much in the bag, here’s a compilation of all the Daily MPfrees we ran in the last month. All the tracks are available for download, so you can grab the lot if you like. It starts off with some of the best new dance and electronica and ends on gothic pop, via some wide meandering through lo-fi, ambient and folk territory.

Daily MPfree: Zola Jesus

“I Can’t Stand” is a beautifully dark slice of gothic pop from Zola Jesus, aka Phoenix-based singer & songwriter Nika Roza Danilova. Reverb aplenty gives this song the sound of a great lost 1980’s number one single. After playing with Fever Ray, she’s just been announced as The XX’s USA tour support… but hopefully she’ll be back for some UK headline dates soon.

Daily MPfree: Valgeir Sigurðsson

Icelandic producer and composer Valgeir Sigurðsson is the man behind the ever-impressive Bedroom Community label. As a producer he came close to an Oscar for his work on Björk and Thom Yorke’s duet “I’ve Seen It All” (remember that clanking train rhythm?) as well as producing and arranging for a truly impressive array of artists such as Cocorosie and Nico Muhly. His newest album, “Draumalandið”, is his strongest solo effort so far; this is the opening track, and an album highlight.

Daily MPfree: Perfume Genius

Emerging indie scene darling Perfume Genius has just released his debut album, ‘Learning’. It’s a dark, intimate, brilliant record and “Look Out Look Out” is one of the standout tracks. We’ll be interviewing Perfume Genius at his debut UK show at Hoxton Hall next month: watch this space.

Daily MPfree: Hammock

Long-running partnership Hammock‘s first gig was played at the request of Sigur Ros frontman Jonsí at the launch of his Riceboy Sleeps project, which might give you some idea of what to expect. But Hammock go much farther than many bands in the ambient / post-rock sphere, crafting truly beautiful, gentle, evocative pieces that linger in the memory.

Daily MPfree: Meursault

Impassioned, Epic, lo-fi indie from the Scottish collective’s recent album, “All Creatures Will Make Merry”.

Daily MPfree: Liam The Younger

Liam The Younger is a bit of mystery. A Google search yields scant results; he’s on a small American Label, Underwater Peoples. No biog, obvs. But a link to two free albums here. Unusual for a musician not to hang the proverbial “it” all out on the internet for all to find.

This song was on an excellent Delicious Scopitone compilation earlier this year, and I’ve been pretty fearsomely obsessed with it since first listen. It sounds real. Fuzzy, Sad. Longing. And then it bursts into flames for an incredible outro that has me grinning like an idiot every time I listen. Check it out.

Daily MPfree: Trash Kit

‘Cadets’ is a perfect piece of messy, scribbly art-pop fun from all girl trio Trash Kit, who’s debut album was released recently on the unimpeachably brilliant Upset The Rhythm.

Daily MPfree: Chrome Hoof

Daily MPfree: Chrome Hoof – Crystalline by snipelondon

A truly bizarre band, Chrome Hoof are a retro-futurist sci-fi blaxploitation jazz/krautrock/noise arkestra. I’d add “unlike any other” but, well, there just aren’t any others. See if they inspire the kind of devotion in you that they do from their cult of adoring fans.