After these messages...

In recent news, a dork off the coast of continental Europe has spotted the Loch Ness Monster with the help of Google Earth. See the convincing image above. In other news, I've returned to the net after a month of traveling and bureaucratic headaches. It feels good to be back, and I'd like to first set the mood with a bumpin' soundtrack. If you've had your nose anywhere near the musico-blogosphere recently, you're probably already well acquainted with the first two sets.

Health, an LA based electro-noise band, has certainly been soaking up the limelight this last month. How many times have I now read, "Best album of the year," referring to, Get Color, their latest release? Perhaps enough times that I've started to believe it. "Severin" reminds me of certain Animal Collective tracks off of Feels combined with some sick drumming and heavy axe work, whereas another track, "Die Slow," makes me think of something I heard, and disliked, during my 90's adolescence. Is it the best album of the year? Hmmm, what's an album? I'll give you one song that I like and you can dig for the others elsewhere, if you so please.

Health - "Severin"

Memory Tapes is Weird Tapes is Memory Cassette. Follow me? In the latter half of last year, the last two of these three names dropped some quality tracks onto the web, each with their own distinct sound. Then, this year, Memory Tapes was born, with another distinct sound, which may or may not be described as a merging of Weird Tapes and Memory Cassette. Still there? My understanding is that there is one guy, somewhere in the UK, who is behind these three monikers, and as of this month, he (or Memory Tapes, rather) has a new album out on Rough Trade. Here are tracks from each of the incarnations. They're all very poppy and infectious.

Weird Tapes - "The Heavens"
Memory Cassette - "Listen to the Vacuum"
Memory Tapes - "Bicycle"

And, I know a guy from school who is part of a new electronic duo called Blondes. I'm no fan of nepotism, so don't think that this addition comes unscrutinized. It's a svelt, ambient build-up that evaporates before you even realize you just taken a 5 minutes and 4 seconds journey through the Creator's sub-conscious.

Blondes - "Spanish Fly"

Finally, we have Mirrors, a Brighton band espousing David Byrne-ish vocals and Kraftwerkian electronics. I'd be happy to hear a full album following this vein.

Mirrors - "Fear of Drowning"

Coming soon, hopefully, a dive or two into the music of mainland China. Turn up the reverb and get ready to sing along. You speak Mandarin, right?