>>Foam Castles, the ever-evolving psych-vibe, ultraharmonic beachpop project of Tyler Jackson and company, let loose a new record titled Through That Door soon. Hear a deliciously brief snippet of what they’re floating around in “Sycamore,” a two-minute downstroker that appears to be the album’s first proper single, due in full in late April/early May. They are unafraid to tour; visit teenarenarecords.com for more.
>> Been a ton of magnifique French hip-hop showing up on the Maine bandcamp pages lately, and what’s up with that? Is there some intense cross-cultural sound-off happening in remote townships? Or is this just some weird techie glitch gone down in one of our sister cities? Trick Qs — neither is true! Lest we forget, Maine’s also a province in France, which means browsing the bandcamp stations can turn up some pretty out-of-nowhere shit from time to time. But hey, we’ll take it. Glad to see they’re building their scene over there. Borders be damned, Mainers unite!
>> The peripatetic folk songwriter Eric Bettencourt livin’ out the Austin leg of his life, but we’ll happily report he’s got a new album on the way. Dude just raised enough crowdfunding dough to support An Underwater Dream, his first full length of new material since 2011’s Secret Songs for Secret People. Bettencourt comes back here every summer to play thousands of gigs alone and with the cover troupe Velourosaurus. Catch him at his record release show May 9th at One Longfellow Square, who seem to be paying a ton more attention to local artists these days...
>> A sweet little single was laid at our feet this week by Fur, a two-piece pop act stripped from the skin of the longtime Portland punk group the Rattlesnakes, whom we don’t believe are on hiatus but whatever, to each their own. The title is Sun Singles, and yes, each seems to have a certain preoccupation with a certain star from above. Hummable, danceable, play-alongable basement-pop songs riding a post-irony vibe and concerned with reclaiming all that is true in the world. What do you make for art? Visit fursounds.bandcamp.com.
