Exciting news: Your latest Flavorpill Mixtape has arrived. Your ears are salivating. Your fingers are ready to click ctrl + left click and “save as.” Ten essential downloads from this past week in music after the jump — including the solo debut from Sigur Rós’ Jónsi Birgisson and our favorite cover of “Don’t Fear the Reaper” to date. from And they’re all free for the taking! Take a listen, and then leave us a comment with what you think.
Harlem – “Friendly Ghost” A song about a poor ‘ole neurotic ghost. “I live in a graveyard, I wanna go out but it’s too hot . . . I wanna disappear all the time!” Equally frantic, a chromatic guitar riff skids back and forth amidst pounding punk drums. We’re rooting for you, Ghost. [Download Here] via Matador Records
Summer Camp – “Ghost Train” More ghosts! This time from the lovely Swedish women of Summer Camp. Less nervous than Harlem’s ghost, the tune bops carelessly with a lumbering bass-line, falling happily in a steady locomotive rhythm with eagerly distorted vocals. [Download Here] via Gorilla Vs. Bear
Holiday Shores – “Edge of Our Lives” Grooving lo-fi pop, wet with reverb and soothing in its disco drone. See the music video for an accurate visual representation. [Download Here] via Pitchfork
tUnE-YaRds – “Jumping Jack” Muffled rap break-beat, cathartic yelling, ominous synth, and chimes. In short, everything that justifies spelling your name with wEiRd CaPiTalizAtion. [Download Here] via Pretty Much Amazing
Malachai – “Fading World” Malachai sounds like a mythical group that wrote an album of prophetic jams sometime during mid to late 1970’s, refusing to play them for the human ear – until now. [Download Here] via Domino Records
Liars – “Scissor” The new single from the Liars begins with meditative hums and harmonies, unnoticeably transitioning into violins to further the eerie melancholy. Midway through, we hear the crack of a snare, which snaps the song into Jekyll and Hyde mode for some doomsday guitar riffage. [Download Here] via Stereogum
Washed Out – “Fantastic Symphony” Mixtape The most meta thing we’ve ever put on the Flavorpill Mixtape. Assembled for Platform, this mixtape was compiled by Washed Out’s Ernest Greene. In his own words: “The mix is meant to narrate different episodes of one continuous dream. My dreams have a life-like quality to them, but are always skewed in really subtle ways. That is the way I think of most of these songs.” [Download Here] via Gorilla Vs. Bear
Jónsi – “Boy Lilikoi” The solo debut from Sigur Rós’ Jónsi Birgisson. Yep, his name gets a cool accent, too. Infinitely more poppy than his band, Jónsi promises more acoustic guitar work alongside the compositions of indie music’s default classical composer, Nico Muhly. [Download Here] via Stereogum
Van She – “Don’t Fear the Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult cover)” In the deeply profound words of The Fader, “Aussie quartet the Van She totally just glow-fied all over yo face! OOH PAUSE!” Word. [Download Here] via The Fader
White Antelope – “Silver Dagger (Joan Baez cover)” Another solo project, Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes crafts a beautifully sparse Joan Baez cover. And continues the trend of naming your band after a woodland creature. [Download Here] via Stranger Dance