Doldrums

ARTIST / BAND: Doldrums

MP3: "I'm Homesick Sittin' Up Here In My Satellite"

ALBUM: Empire Sound

FILE UNDER: electronic, experimental, pop

LABEL: No Pain In Pop

INFO: Doldrums is a musical venture produced by Canadian artist Eric Woodhead. As a part of a larger community reacting to overhype, the plasticity of modern youth culture and it's ultimately alienating nature, his music deals with the loss of the individual in an increasingly altruistic society. Doldrums' music reflects this societal change on a personal level, as a member of the last generation to remember life pre-internet and 24 hour status updates. His androgynous voice comes across mid-panic attack, floating in a sea of chopped up samples, disembodied vocals and tribal percussion. Spearing between electro-hallucinogenic freak outs and languid nostalgia, his tracks somehow manage to elevate classic pop melodies above a sample saturated sound collage.

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Grimes - Crystal Ball (Doldrums remix) from ///NO PAIN IN POP\\\ on Vimeo.

Echo Lake

ARTIST / BAND: Echo Lake

MP3: "In Dreams" / "Young Silence"

ALBUM: Young Silence

FILE UNDER: Ambient / Pop / Psychedelic

LABEL: No Pain In Pop

INFO: In the summer of 2010, Thom Hill met Linda Jarvis while studying at Camberwell Art College in South London. The two instantly connected after discovering the ex-choir girl's voice perfectly complemented the tracks Thom had been crafting in his bedroom, and they decided to work on a new project together, which would come to be known as Echo Lake.

Matching driving rhythms with ethereal, gorgeous melodies, Echo Lake is an arresting take on the droney side of psychedelia's pop frontier. The band's demos were quickly discovered by indie label and blog No Pain In Pop, who signed the band and posted some of the songs on the blog. The tracks garnered critical praise almost immediately, and were featured on Pitchfork, Gorilla vs Bear and The Fader. 

The songwriting duo decided to take a bit of time off from school to record and put together a band with some friends from Thom's hometown of Birmingham. Keen to avoid the stigma often attached to bedroom projects' live performance, they shed the backing tracks the recordings were based on and replaced with a tight, loud set up for shows.

Echo Lake's debut EP, Young Silence, is set to be released via No Pain In Popon February 14 (UK) and February 15 (US). Recalling a pre-Sub Pop Beach House crossed with a more raw side of My Bloody Valentine, it's as bold and complete of a statement as you can expect from a band so young.