Blanck Mass is the solo project of Benjamin John Power. The Fuck Buttons musician has been making music under the moniker since 2010. His self-titled debut was released on Mogwai’s Rock Action in 2011. Described by Fact Magazine as “simultaneously soothing and sweepingly grandiose, esoteric and surprisingly accessible”, the album was an elegant, introspective departure from the stadium electronica he had become known for. In 2012, ‘Sundowner’ – the second track from the album – soundtracked the London Olympics Opening Ceremony. The song was chosen by Underworld’s Rick Smith and performed by London’s Symphony Orchestra to 900 million people worldwide.

Scottish band Django Django have announced Born Under Saturn, the follow-up to their 2012 self-titled debut. The thirteen-track album will arrive May 5 in the U.S. via Ribbon and May 4 via Because internationally; that's the artwork above. Below, check out the tracklisting.

横跨理性与感性之间，诠释你我生命中种种的爱与落寞。
Hush【第一人称】首场TICC演唱会
优柔低沉地诉说着我与你的宇宙，以第一人称最直接的角度，凝视每一个灵魂，渗透它、抚慰它。【在平行交叉中选择前进】
怀抱着梦想的Hush，当初在海边的卡夫卡艺文展演空间担任咖啡师。老 板得知他会创作并邀请他在咖啡厅内演出，开启了他的音乐之路。由不售票演出到演出场场Sold Out，走过中港台等大小重要的音乐节，我们知道他是时候往更好的地方前进了。2015/4/4，HUSH首度登入台湾演唱会指标场地之一：台北TICC国际会议中心举办【第一人称】演唱会，用你我未曾见过的视角描绘城市人群流动间的感动。
【在昏暗瞳孔中流露坚定】
Hush在众人看好及欢呼声中启程，唱出「第三人称」、「异常现象」、「天文特征」、「X」等脍炙歌曲，勾勒出城市孤独的众生相。但在容易迷失自我的年代中，HUSH忧郁迷幻的声线给予我们一个肯定的答案：「宁做水下折射的光，不要浅如水面的波光。」
【在蔓生枝丫中勇敢绽放】
以天文学及哲学诠释爱，出道五年，四张音乐作品，创作光芒无法忽视。
孙燕姿「克卜勒」、A-Lin「我值得」、丁当「说破」、徐佳莹「寻人启事」除了歌声，Hush也以温柔的字句，道出更多人的心底话。
我们在梦里醒来
在现实中睡去
直到青春一定程度的浪费
才觉得可贵
▲ Hush重新诠释《克卜勒》，五月天马莎担任制作人
马莎为Hush版本的《克卜勒》召集「明星组合」共通录制，包括草莓救星吉他手－阿尼、Tizzy Bac鼓手－前源、荣获新加坡Freshmusic最佳新人的新生代音乐人－EASY、张悬《神的游戏》专辑录音师Zen，并由马莎亲自弹奏Bass。Hush与马莎合作的新版《克卜勒》也将是Hush在4月4日在台北国际会议中心《第一人称》演唱会的第三部主题曲。
Hush在「Hush乐团」解散后单飞，他的作品《克卜勒》被孙燕姿选为主打歌。在五月天马莎听过Hush的Demo版后，鼓励他重新演绎，并自告奋勇担任单曲制作人。Hush曾说，这版本不会收录在之后的个人专辑中，只是《第一人称》演唱会当晚演出限定。不过想收藏的歌迷有福了，主办单位将制作《第一人称3部曲》限量EP，演唱会当天凭门票免费兑换。将举办个人首次大型演唱会，天团天后纷纷为HUSH献上祝福，《克卜勒》原唱孙燕姿：说「恭喜Hush，非常谢谢他帮我写这么好的歌曲， 尤其是《克卜勒》这首歌，也希望你的歌路走得越来越精彩！」制作人五月天马莎也大赞：「有一种新的味道和态度在他的音乐里头」。

Following 2013's solo effort Prayer of the Woods, songwriter Tony Dekker is back to focusing on his Toronto folk rock ensemble Great Lake Swimmers. Their latest long-player is called A Forest of Arms, and it will arrive on April 21 through Nettwerk Records.
Rather than recording in a dedicated session, Great Lake Swimmers made the album over a number of sessions in a scattering of locations. Curiously, some guitars and vocals were captured in the Tyendinaga Cavern and Caves in Tyendinaga, ON. This is a change from the band's last album, 2012's New Wild Everywhere, which was the first time they had recorded in a proper studio.
As we reported last year, Dekker cited his experiences with the World Wildlife Fund, through which he witnessed the impact of the BP oil spill, as well as the Northern Gateway Pipeline controversy, as sources of inspiration for the band's new songs.
"I've been incubating these songs and we'll see how it goes. I am trying to work with a kind of concept or through line that incorporates my recent experiences," Dekker said at the time. "I had a chance to visit this place [BC's Great Bear region] and actually sailed from Kitimat down through these passageways seeing incredible wildlife — species that are indigenous to that area. If one tanker spilled, say the size of the Exxon Valdez, the entire area would be obliterated and so would a culture that has existed since the beginning of time."
Kevin Kane of the Grapes of Wrath appears on the album. It was engineered by Justin Shane Nace and then mixed by Howie Beck.
That's the cover artwork above. For a taste of what the band have cooked up, scroll past the tracklist to hear the lushly orchestrated, wistful folk rock number "Zero in the City."
Also below, see the group's tour schedule, which consists of plenty of Canadian shows throughout the upcoming months. U.S. dates will be announces shortly

Ask bill fay about his relationship with his instrument and he says something revealing, not ”ever since i learnt to play the piano,” b ut “ever since the piano taught me”.
what the piano taught him was how to connect to one of the great joys of his life. “music gives,” he says. and he is a grateful receiver. but, it makes him wonder, “who is the sender?” fay - who after more than five decades writing songs is finally being appreciated as one of our finest living practitioners of the art – asserts that songs aren’t actually written but found, perhaps people like him or dylan or leonard cohen are simply getting glimpses of what music itself wants us to know. he recorded two phenomenal but largely overlooked albums for decca offshoot nova in 1970 and 1971. after 27 years of neglect, people like nick cave, jim o’ rourke, and jeff tweedy were praising those records in glowing terms. recorded in ray davies' konk studios, north london, who is the sender? sees bill expanding upon themes he has touched on from the beginning, spiritual and philosophical questions, observations about the natural world and the people in the city he has lived in all his life.

Montreal band Braids have announced their new album, Deep In The Iris. This is their third LP and the follow-up to their sophomore album, Flourish // Perish.
Driven by roomy acoustic instrumentation and tasteful electronics, Deep In The Iris is easily Braids’ sunniest and most immediate record. While the icy, airless production of their second album Flourish // Perish suited the songs’ inward gaze, the widescreen warmth and full-bodied punch of Deep In The Iris are the perfect complement to its unflinching lyricism. -Arbutus Records

With solo piano pieces sprinkled through The Flashbulb's discography, Compositions For Piano has been a longtime coming. The album ranges from simple classical fugues to complex jazz arrangements and extends to robotic controlled percussion using dampened strings and electromagnetic resonating (imagine a large Ebow). The album is a break from the distraction of production, and 100% musicianship.

Music : Gautier Serre
Voice : Laure Le Prunenec
Recorded at Improve Tone Studios, thanks to Hervé Faivre.
Sound by Gautier Serre
Photo by Svarta Photography
Artwork by Førtifem
Layout by Riikka Koivula
Guest musicians :
Nils Cheville, Additional Guitar on Arsalein, Velandi, Fia and Equus.
Benjamin Violet, Strings on Scylla, Velandi, Dorma, Dulcin, Equus and Encell.
Fabien Serre, Accordion on Equus.

Dark Red is the second full-length album from Shlohmo, aka 25 year-old Los Angeles native Henry Laufer. The record is an uncanny marriage of his ever-evolving, richly textured sound with shades of ’90s IDM, R&B, cassette-tape Jungle, and, in an unexpected turn, sludge metal. “It sounds like if Electric Wizard tried to make an R&B record,” he says, “or Boards of Canada meets Burzum by the River Styx.”
Shlohmo’s music thus far exists in the poles between the subtly textured tracks of Bad Vibes and the booming sinister synths and hi-hats of his production work and remixes (such as his split EP with Jeremih, Banks’ “Brain”, remixes for Drake + The Weeknd). Dark Red utilizes Shlohmo’s existing palate but also mines the noises and imperfections inherent in analog production and naturally damaged sounds. Side-stepping current trends that lean towards pristine, computer-generated production, Dark Red explores natural distortion, fuzz and noise as compositional tools, intentionally distressing sounds to echo the feeling of the icy menace and emotional charge found on early black metal tapes. The result is a deeply personal listen, Shlohmo’s boldest statement yet.
This isn’t an album which fades into the shadows. The eerie, squalling synths of “Ten Days of Falling” usher in a world of phosphorescent disintegration and decay; from the looming claustrophobia of new single “Buried” to the minimalist pindrop orchestration of “Remains” and the carnal hum of “Ditch”, there is palpable anxiety and discord. “Relentless” and “Slow Descent” explore an internal sense of pain and sorrow that adds a stark emotional charge to the record.
Laufer explains:
“When I started working on Dark Red about two and a half years ago, I had just moved back to LA and built a small studio in my apartment, mostly with my dad’s old gear from the 80s. I had just lost some people close to me and was dealing with another loved one’s health issues. I was all over the place mentally, and I think it reflects in this record whether I like it or not.
The only thing I did know going into it, was that I wanted this one to be loud, and not just loud but really really f***ing loud. I wanted the sound of the thing to be devastating and violent. Recordings that force you to feel something even if that something isn’t good. I’m proud to have made something polarizing, a record that’s strong and undeniable even in its moments of pure anxiety and confusion. It’s tragic and painful at times, but that’s all part of it and I want that to be heard and felt. You don’t have to like it, just listen to it.”

Mumdance and Logos will release a collaborative album called Proto on Tectonic Recordings in February.
Last year Mumdance put out one of 2014's key singles—"Take Time" featuring Novelist—and teamed up with Pinch for a mix CD. Logos, meanwhile, chipped in with a track on Keysound's Certified Connections compilation. The two producers also launched their own label, Different Circles.
Proto presents ten jointly produced club-ready tunes. The album "focusses on the very brief sparks of innovation when new scenes were just forming and genre rules and paradigm were still grey areas; the early bleep track days when imported American techno was starting to be appropriated by the UK, the '93-94 proto era when hardcore was morphing into jungle and later when the darker sound of tech-step reared its mechanical, dystopian head." It'll arrive on vinyl, CD and digital formats.

Happy
Piano Day!
—
and welcome to the first holiday
which celebrates the piano
What's this all about?
At the end of 2014 I had an immediate urge to release a solo piano album which I recorded some time ago, and I was looking for a specific occasion to do so. I wanted it to be a nice surprise for everyone, so I thought of a meaningful release date to begin with.
Seconds later it came to my mind: I was about to create my own holiday in order to come up with a reason for this release. Moreover, if I could be proud of something, then of being responsible for an annual celebration of the piano. And here comes the best bit, Piano Day will happen on the 88th day of the year, which most of the time is the 29th of March. Piano Day is intended to be the most joyful of all holidays.
My album –solo– can be downloaded in any desired format and can be listened to for free. For those who like the real thing, there is a vinyl and all other kinds of round discs available (sorry, these are not for free). It would be appreciated if you get this thing on vinyl, simply because it’s very nice looking and sounding! Anyways, this is all part of a fundraising enterprise for a very special piano project. So please read on for a bit …

Marching Church was previously the solo project of Iceage frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt, but now it's a full-band project featuring members of Lower, Puce Mary, Choir of Young Believers, and Hand of Dust. Their debut album This World Is Not Enough is out on March 30 via Posh Isolation in Europe and on March 31 via Sacred Bones everywhere else.
In a press release, Rønnenfelt detailed his vision for the band: “What I pictured was me in a comfortable armchair, adorned in a golden robe, leading a band while a girl kept pouring me champagne when I required it. This raised the question, ‘What sort of music would go along with this picture?’”
The press release also notes that the album was influenced by David Maranha's Antarctica, Young Americans-era David Bowie, as well as James Brown and Sam Cooke.
Rønnenfelt discussed the album's sessions in a statement:
The whole month of writing and rehearsing and the one week we had in the studio was truly an explosion of ideas. Improvisation, something I have never worked with before, was crucial in the making of this album, considering the loose nature of the writing on some of these songs. The album works because of the band’s incredible ability of breathing life into these, at times, very simple ideas and experiments.
The band features Rønnenfelt, Kristian Emdal and Anton Rothstein (Lower), Cæcilie Trier (Choir of Young Believers), Bo H. Hansen (Hand of Dust, Sexdrome) and Frederikke Hoffmeier (Puce Mary).

The world is growing ever smaller. There are less places to hide and less space to think. Nothing is private. It's a notion that Belgian quintet Balthazar felt keenly as they traversed the world touring their 2012 album Rats. It was an intense period where they clocked up the sort of hard road mileage that can make or break a band but Balthazar's two songwriters, Maarten Devoldere and Jinte Deprez, emerged emboldened. As Jinte explains, "we know each other's darkest secrets now. We grew together. You live together as each other's brother and sister. We discovered we really like each other."
Lives lived in each other's pockets has left its mark on Thin Walls, the stunning new album from the five-piece who are completed by Patricia Vanneste, Simon Casier and Michiel Balcaen. "Thin Walls is all about touring and never having any privacy," says Jinte. The songs were written in a hazy hyperactive state between shows. Balthazar's previous two albums, 2010's Applause and the calculated, searing alt-rock of 2012's Rats, were created in a slow, considered manner back home. This time round, the band had to fit in writing sessions whenever they had a spare day off. "When you're on tour, the mood is very restless and chaotic," says Maarten. "Life on tour is kind of weird, everything is prepared for you and you drink way too much. If you write with a hangover, then you write differently..."

The Go! Team are back with a new album, The Scene Between. Go! Team main man Ian Parton wrote, produced, and performed all of the songs on the new LP, which follows 2011's Rolling Blackouts. It's out March 24 via Memphis Industries.Below, check out the tracklisting.
According to a press release, Parton's writing and recording process for The Scene Between entailed four rules: "Melody would guide the song, samples would be treated as an instrument rather than a basis for the song, the production would vary across the song like flipping the dial on the radio and the singers must all be people he'd never previously heard of."