Milled Pavement, nearing the 20-disc mark, have released another pair of records. The first is another compilation, Hold Yr Tongue, and features only names that will be familiar to local types. MP has mined the Continent for artists before and does it again here, with nothing but instrumental tracks, which veer from boom-bip hip-hop to deep house and up-beat electronica. Hold along with Kiss the Stars, the debut release from local electronic artist and vocalist Brandon Miles, are a representation of where the label stands following its merge with j.hjort’s Brick City Media: as a home for just about any electronic music you can dream up. Miles at times threatens to be as pop as Erasure or World Party. His vocals are melodic and inviting, but much of his backing is aggressive and bludgeoning, an interesting mix of big beats and dark synths. In some ways, the electronic version of the Baltic Sea, actually.
Speaking of Milled Pavement and Brick City Media, don’t miss MP boss Moshe, along with label artists Vik 44, the Secret Weekend, Jason Keith and Matty T, at the sixth annual Beltek Festival, in Belmont, Maine (we don’t really know where that is, but you could look it up), August 1 through 3. It’s free, there’s stuff for kids to do, and there ought to be lots of trippy music and imagery, in an electronic kind of way.
Something’s going right in the world when ESPN-based wireless phone company commercials are hyping Apples in Stereo.
If you’re going to the August 7 Pinsky show at Club 188, try to envision a video for “Beverly,” as the band will be heading down to Brooklyn (New York, not Maine) to record one with John McCarthy and Charlie Foerschner at Track 17 Productions. Look for it to be available in mid fall.
Despite all of this season’s big and much-hyped local releases, it’s the Gypsy Tailwind record that’s still most in the “Sibilance” playlist.
